Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 11 a.m. Central time (noon Eastern). Click here to read the transcript.
Former LSU forward Darius Days has signed a one-year contract with the Illawarra Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN (Twitter link).
Days, who will turn 25 next month, signed a two-way contract with the Heat after going undrafted in 2022, but was waived by Miami prior to the 2022/23 season. He was claimed off waivers by the Rockets and spent his rookie season on a two-way deal with Houston, though he appeared in just four NBA games for the club. He inked a new two-way contract during the summer of 2023 but was cut by the Rockets last October at the start of the regular season.
The 6’7″ forward spent far more time over the past two seasons with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate. Last season, Days averaged 16.0 points and 6.9 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game across 45 outings for the Vipers, then joined the Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League in the spring. His deal with Illawarra will represent his first time playing overseas.
Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:
- Former Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin will continue playing in Taiwan in 2024/25, having re-signed with the New Taipei Kings, he confirmed on Twitter. The veteran point guard appeared in 480 regular season games in the NBA from 2010-19, spending time with eight teams, including New York, Houston, and the Lakers.
- Veteran guard Shabazz Napier, an NBA first-round pick in 2014, is reportedly joining Bayern Munich in Germany for the upcoming season. As BasketNews.com notes, Napier’s agency deleted a social media post announcing the agreement. However, Matteo Andreani of BasketInside.com (Twitter link) says it’s a done deal and will be formally announced shortly. The 33-year-old played for six NBA teams from 2014-20, appearing in 345 total regular season games.
- Former NBA first-round pick Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot said that input from fellow Frenchman Guerschon Yabusele helped convince him to sign with Baskonia in Spain this offseason after he spent last season with ASVEL in France. Yabusele previously played for new Baskonia head coach Pablo Laso at Real Madrid. “(Yabusele) told me only great things about Pablo,” Luwawu-Cabarrot said (story via BasketNews.com). “I guess I need to make my own impressions. It’s been only a week, so I’ll be able to tell in a year, but I know already that we’re going to have a great year and a great relationship.”
There won’t be a ton of free agents who sign for more than the veteran’s minimum between now and the end of the NBA’s regular season. The majority of the players whose markets exceeded the minimum came off the board pretty quickly in July, and teams aren’t looking to spend big on the players who are still available.
Still, that certainly doesn’t mean every signing for the next seven months will be of the minimum-salary variety. In some cases – especially on the buyout market in February – being able to offer a couple million dollars more than the minimum could be the difference between a team landing a free agent and missing out on him.
With that in mind, it’s worth checking in on which teams don’t currently have the ability to offer more than the minimum. By our count, a third of the NBA is in this boat, though some of those clubs could generate some spending flexibility by making cost-cutting trades.
Here’s a breakdown of the teams currently limited to minimum-salary contract offers for free agents:
Teams above the second tax apron:
- Boston Celtics
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Phoenix Suns
Teams operating above the second tax apron, which comes in at $188,931,000 in 2024/25, face a series of roster-building restrictions, including being prohibited from using any form of the mid-level exception, as well as the bi-annual exception.
The Celtics, Bucks, Timberwolves, and Suns all fall into that group of teams above the second apron and therefore don’t have any cap exceptions available to use on free agents besides the minimum salary exception.
Teams very close to the second tax apron:
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Miami Heat
Because their team salaries are below the second apron, the Lakers and Heat each technically have the ability to use their taxpayer mid-level exception, which is worth $5,168,000 this season.
However, both clubs are operating so close to the second apron that using any portion of the taxpayer MLE would push team salary above that threshold, which isn’t permitted — a team that uses the taxpayer MLE can’t have a salary above the second apron upon the completion of the signing (or at any time after that).
Therefore, unless they make a move to shed salary, the Lakers and Heat will be limited to minimum-salary signings from here on out.
Over-the-cap teams that have used all their cap exceptions:
- Denver Nuggets
- Philadelphia 76ers
The Nuggets are currently operating between the first and second tax aprons and have already used their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Dario Saric. Because the bi-annual exception isn’t available to teams above the first apron, Denver can no longer offer more than the veteran’s minimum.
The Sixers, meanwhile, used their entire room exception to re-sign Kelly Oubre after spending all their cap space. They’re now well over the cap and only have the minimum salary exception left to sign a free agent outright.
It’s worth noting that acquiring a player via sign-and-trade is technically a possibility prior to opening night for teams who have used up all their cap exceptions and want to add a free agent for more than the minimum. However, that’s not currently a practical option for either Denver or Philadelphia, who are both above the first tax apron.
Teams right up against their hard caps:
- Dallas Mavericks
- Golden State Warriors
The Mavericks have about $4.25MM of their mid-level exception still available after using a portion of it to sign Naji Marshall, and both Dallas and Golden State still have their full bi-annual exceptions on hand.
Based on the roster moves they’ve made so far this summer though, both the Mavs and Warriors are hard-capped at the first apron of $178,132,000 and are less than $1MM away from that hard cap. In other words, unless they shed salary by trading or waiving one or more of their current players, those two teams aren’t just prohibited from using their remaining exceptions — they’re also unable to add another minimum-salary player on a standard contract.
Dallas and Golden State are each carrying at least one player with a non-guaranteed salary, so it would technically be possible for, say, the Mavs to cut A.J. Lawson and then use a portion of their mid-level exception to sign a free agent. However, their breathing room below the hard cap is so limited that any signings above the minimum are unlikely, unless a cost-cutting trade generates more flexibility — the same goes for the Warriors.
Former Grizzlies forward Sean McDermott has signed with Pinar Karsiyaka in the Turkish league, Sportando relays.
McDermott played last season for Openjobmetis Varese in Italy. He averaged 13.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 42 games with the Italian club.
McDermott saw action in 18 games with the Grizzlies during the 2020/21 season, averaging 2.2 points and 1.1 rebounds in 8.8 minutes.
McDermott, who went undrafted out of Butler in 2020, was on a two-way contract during his rookie season. He was then an affiliate player with the Memphis Hustle after getting waived during training camp by the Grizzlies in October 2022. McDermott, 27, appeared in 42 regular season games with the Hustle from 2021-23.
Free agent forward Davis Bertans has been invited to work out for the Warriors, Marc Stein tweets. Bertans is looking to receive a training camp invite.
Bertans became a free agent when the Hornets waived him in early July. He had a $16MM salary for 2024/25, but only $5.25MM of that total was guaranteed before Charlotte cut him loose.
Bertans, 31, was dealt to the Hornets from the Thunder midway through the 2023/24 season in the Gordon Hayward trade. He saw his role expand on a lottery-bound Charlotte squad, averaging 8.8 points on a .394/.375/.889 shooting line in 28 appearances.
Once one of the more sought-after stretch fours in the league, Bertans signed a five-year, $80MM contract in 2020.
He spent one full and one partial season with Washington after it re-signed him, then was dealt to Dallas. He came off the bench for one-and-a-half seasons with the Mavericks, then was moved to the Thunder in an offseason trade. He saw limited action in 15 games with OKC before he was dealt to the Hornets.
Bertans is a career 39.6% three-point shooter. He’s averaged 7.7 points in 18.0 minutes in 475 career games.
The Warriors have 15 players on their standard roster but three of them have non-guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show.
Filip Petrusev is expected to have his contract with Olympiacos extended but he’ll be loaned out to another team for the upcoming season, Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net reports.
Olympiacos is signing longtime NBA wing Evan Fournier, necessitating roster adjustments. Petrusev will likely wind up with Crvena Zvezda. He expressed a desire to return to Belgrade.
In 2022/23, Petrusev helped Zvezda win the AdmiralBet Basketball League of Serbia and the Radivoj Korac Cup.
Petrusev, who suited up for Serbia in the Paris Olympics, played one game with the Sixers and two games with the Kings last season.
The 50th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Petrusev signed a two-year, minimum-salary contract with the 76ers during the 2023 offseason. He received a partial guarantee (approximately $560K) and survived a preseason roster crunch, but was sent to the Clippers in the James Harden blockbuster just eight days into the regular season. The former Gonzaga big man was then flipped to the Kings in a separate deal.
Petrusev signed with Olympiacos after he was waived by Sacramento in November.
Armoni Brooks, who played for the Nets last season, is looking to improve his game at both ends of the floor during his first season in Europe, Eurohoops.net relays. Brooks signed a two-year contract with Italy’s Olimpia Milano in June.
“I think offensively, I need to learn to read and react to situations a little faster. I’m already good at playing off the ball but maybe I can play the pick-and-roll a little more often,” he told the Italian team’s website. “Defensively, I have to improve my awareness of situations away from the ball, not allow cuts from behind, pressing the ball when I defend a person who is dribbling, stay in front of him, don’t allow (him) to get to certain angles.”
Brooks appeared in 10 games for the Nets on a two-way contract before being waived in January. He averaged 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 10.4 minutes for Brooklyn but made just 32.6% of his shot attempts from the field.
The 26-year-old, who has also suited up for the Rockets and Raptors since making his NBA debut in 2021, spent the rest of the 2023/24 season with the Clippers’ G League affiliate. He appeared in 28 games for the Ontario Clippers.
Former Milan guard Keith Langford, who also had a short stint with the Spurs, endorsed Brooks’ decision.
“I texted him in the summer to tell him I signed here. He was super excited. He told me that I would love it here, and he gave me some advice on adjusting. He says it’s a great opportunity for me,” Brooks said.
Brooks joined an Olimpia Milano team that has won three straight Italian League titles but struggled in EuroLeague competition last season, finishing just 15-19 and missing the playoffs.
“I’m not sure what to expect because I’ve never played here; so, now I’m mostly trying to read the situations. But I think this is a good group and if we can come together well, we can do great things,” he said.
The Hornets‘, Pistons‘, Spurs‘ and Thunder‘s G League affiliates completed a four-team trade, according to a release (Twitter link) and the G League transactions log.
In the trade, the Greensboro Swarm (Hornets) obtained the returning player rights to both Zavier Simpson and Caleb McConnell. The Motor City Cruise (Pistons) acquired RaiQuan Gray‘s rights, along with OKC’s 2025 second-round pick. The Austin Spurs got the rights to Nathan Mensah while the Oklahoma City Blue obtained Buddy Boeheim‘s.
Acquiring a player’s returning G League rights doesn’t necessarily mean that player will suit up for his new team. These trades ensure that if a player signs an NBAGL contract, he will play for the club that acquired his rights. When deals occur at this point in the offseason, they’re often precursors to players signing Exhibit 10 contracts with the parent club, lining them up to receive a bonus worth up to $77.5K if they’re waived and then spent at least 60 days in the G League.
This deal appears to be for exactly those purposes, at least in part. Mensah and Boeheim reportedly agreed to training camp deals with the Spurs and Thunder, respectively, so these trades indicate those agreements will be completed soon. Mensah played in 25 games for the Hornets last season, averaging 1.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest. Boeheim played two seasons with the Pistons, appearing in 20 games and averaging 2.5 PPG.
The other names in the trade are interesting. Simpson played in Summer League with the Hornets but previous reporting from HoopsHype indicated he was set to head overseas this season. He may very well still be doing that, but Charlotte clearly likes him. Gray, meanwhile, was traded while on a two-way contract to the Bulls before being waived.
Simpson has 11 games of NBA experience, averaging 7.8 points and 5.0 assists. McConnell, a former Rutgers player, also played for Charlotte in Summer League. While he hasn’t yet appeared in an NBA game, he suited up for 47 G League contests and averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds last season. Gray played parts of two seasons with the Nets and then Spurs, averaging 9.8 points in his four games.
We have more from the G League:
- The Cruise and Spurs participated in another multi-team trade, with Motor City acquiring the rights to Javante McCoy and Reggie Kissoonlal along with unspecified draft capital, according to the log and a team release (Twitter link). Austin obtained the rights to Isaiah Miller and Jaylen Johnson, while the Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz) got a 2025 first round pick and Jayce Johnson. None of those players have yet agreed to sign Exhibit 10 deals, but as teams start fielding their training camp rosters, they’ll be names to monitor. All players involved have previously participated in training camps with NBA teams.
- The Long Island Nets and Cleveland Charge completed their own trade, with the rights to Trey McGowens heading to Cleveland in exchange for Tray Maddox‘s rights (Twitter link). McGowens signed an Exhibit 10 with Brooklyn last season and averaged 10.1 points in 16 G League games last season. Maddox, a Western Michigan product who went undrafted in 2023, averaged 6.1 PPG last season for the Charge.
- In case you missed it, Lonnie Walker IV signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Celtics and may end up playing for their G League affiliate this season, at least to begin the year.
The Timberwolves took off in 2023/24 as their young pieces showed tremendous growth and their core took a step forward together. In an interview with Darren Wolfson of KSTP, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said he’s proud of what the team accomplished last season.
“We don’t want to be [in] a zero-sum game,” Connelly said. “It’s not one winner and everybody else is losers. We had goals — we didn’t reach the ultimate goal, which is to bring a championship to Minnesota. But our team played well. We had some playoff success that has been a long, long time coming and hopefully it’s something we can build upon.”
Connelly spoke extensively on the state of the Wolves’ roster and a few select players. I heavily recommend watching the interview in full, but here are some of the highlights:
On where the Timberwolves stack up in the Western Conference:
“The West is so brutal, it [depends on] a shot here, a shot there, who’s healthy. So much is [based on] matchups and health. We just want to continue to be at the big table. As long as we internally grow and keep holding ourselves to the highest standards, we’re pretty excited about the season.”
On conflicting accounts that surfaced during the Olympics regarding Rudy Gobert‘s health:
“I think Rudy’s good. He had a finger injury but I think he’s good to go.”
On whether the team wants to extend Gobert:
“We’d like Rudy to be here for a long time. We love his agent, he’s been a friend for a long time and is one of the best guys in the league. And certainly our goal with most of these guys is to keep them here as long as they want to be here. … Ideally, I think continuity is going to be one of the better strengths we have going into the season and we really like our core group.”
On how much rookies Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. will play:
“We don’t want to put too much on any young guy’s shoulders, but we’re gonna put a lot on their shoulders. Obviously, they’re going to have to prove they’ve earned those minutes. But where we are, we’ve become a pretty expensive team, so we’re going to have to find some spots for these young guys. We know it’s not always going to be pretty, but most importantly they buy into [Wolves head coach Chris Finch] … We’re not expecting perfection, we’re just expecting a commitment to do things the way we do them.”
On the team’s work ethic this offseason:
“Our gym’s been fantastic, we’ve had 11, 12 guys here all summer. This week, we told the guys to get out of town. It’s really exciting when you don’t have to beg guys to come back to the city. And I think everybody kind of got a taste for it last year and hopefully we can build upon it.”
On who will fill the backup point guard position:
“It’s up to [Finch]. Certainly, we think [our] guys are capable. [PJ Dozier] played full-time point last year in Europe. We drafted [Dillingham] to give him a real opportunity to earn minutes early on and we’re pretty confident he can do that. Again, nothing’s given. I think the depth and the competitive nature of our depth is what helped us get through some tough times the last couple of years.”
On the possibility of filling their open 15th roster spot:
“We could. There’s some flexibility there. We want to be cognizant of where we are relative to the tax. We also want to be cognizant of where we are health-wise going into the season. Of course we’ve talked about it, if the right player is there, we would fill it. But at the moment, we’re gonna sit tight and see what September looks like. I think there will be another deal-making window too where maybe a guy shakes out that we didn’t think would be available.“
Chinese guard Yongxi Cui appears to be headed to the Nets on a two-way contract covering two seasons, according to Lucas Kaplan and Net Income of NetsDaily. They cite reports out of China over the weekend, but add that Brooklyn officials are refusing to confirm or deny a deal with Cui.
The 6’8″ Cui, who graduated from the NBA Global Academy, was originally expected to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Trail Blazers. Although that arrangement was reported in late June, it has not yet been made official as Cui and his representatives were searching around the league for guaranteed money.
The Nets held a workout with Cui prior to this year’s draft, the authors add, but they didn’t have any picks and he wasn’t selected.
Cui saw limited action while playing for Portland in the Las Vegas Summer League. He appeared in three games and averaged 3.0 PPG in 7.2 minutes per contest.
Cui, 21, has spent the past two years with the Guangzhou Loong Lions, one of the top teams in the CBA, and averaged 15.6 PPG last season while showing an impressive shooting touch from three-point range. He had offers to play college basketball in the U.S., according to the NetsDaily authors, but preferred to remain in his native country.
“He’s got really good feet and plays super hard,” Chris Ebersole, the NBA’s Head of International Basketball Development, told NetsDaily. “Those ingredients, for both on-ball defense and off-ball positioning, serve him well.”
Brooklyn has a pair of two-way slots to fill, with Jaylen Martin the only two-way player currently on the roster. The authors note that Jalen Wilson and Keon Johnson both earned standard contracts last season after starting out on two-way deals.