NBA Rumors - HoopsRumors.com

Grizzlies’ GG Jackson II Injures Foot, Requires Surgery

August 30th, 2024 at 7:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Grizzlies second-year forward GG Jackson II has suffered a foot injury that will require surgery, according to a team press release (Twitter link).

Jackson sustained the injury playing basketball outside of Dallas on Tuesday. He attempted a contested layup and experienced an unstable landing on his right foot.

Subsequent imaging revealed a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot. The surgery is scheduled to be performed on Wednesday.

Memphis was snake-bit by injuries last season and its run of bad luck continues with Jackson’s offseason ailment.

Jackson excelled in the Las Vegas Summer League last month, getting named to the All-Summer League First Team.

In his first season, Jackson earned All-Rookie Second Team honors. Jackson was the only All-Rookie member who wasn’t drafted in the first round; he was selected 45th overall in 2023 and initially signed a two-way contract before being promoted to the 15-man roster in February. He received a four-year deal at that time.

Jackson appeared in 48 games, including 18 starts. He averaged 14.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 25.7 minutes per contest, attempting an average of six 3-pointers per game and making 35.7%.

The 6’9” Jackson projects as a backup at both forward spots but he’ll likely miss some early-season action as his foot heals.

Atlantic Notes: Sixers’ Rotation, Yabusele, Walker, Knicks

August 30th, 2024 at 5:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers will have a different look after a summer spending spree, prompting The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Gina Mizell to project how the rotation will shake out.

Mizell anticipates the Sixers will go with a different type of starting lineup, with forward Caleb Martin replacing guard Kyle Lowry, leaving Tyrese Maxey at the point. In that scenario, Eric Gordon, Jared McCain and Reggie Jackson would compete for reserve minutes in the backcourt, while KJ Martin, Ricky Council IV and Guerschon Yabusele would fight for playing time vacated by Nicolas Batum. Andre Drummond will slot in as Joel Embiid‘s backup.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Yabusele signed a one-year contract with the Sixers after his strong showing in the Paris Olympics for France. He hasn’t played in the NBA since 2019. “Not a lot of people have a chance of second shots in the NBA,” Yabusele told Mizell. “So when the opportunity comes, you don’t think twice. … I feel like I just wanted to better myself and [say], ‘Let’s try.’ I feel like if you don’t come back in the NBA, then you play your whole career and you be like, ‘If, if, if …’”
Don’t expect Lonnie Walker IV to make the Celtics’ opening-night roster, according to Brian Robb of Masslive.com. The veteran wing was signed to a training camp deal and there are financial incentives for the Celtics to leave him off the roster, since it would cost the team millions more in luxury tax penalties to retain him. Robb pegs Walker’s chances of sticking on the 15-man roster to start the season at 30 percent.
How could the Knicks’ season be derailed? Stefan Bondy of the New York Post explores a few possible pitfalls for the team to navigate, including the overload of wings on the roster, Julius Randle not receiving an extension, and injuries.

NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Milwaukee Bucks

August 30th, 2024 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Free agent signings

Taurean Prince: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Gary Trent Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
Delon Wright: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
James Akinjo: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
Liam Robbins: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

None

Draft picks

1-23: AJ Johnson
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $14,616,287).
2-33: Tyler Smith
- Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year non-guaranteed team option.

Two-way signings

Anzejs Pasecniks
Stanley Umude

Departed/unsigned free agents

Thanasis Antetokounmpo (unsigned)
Malik Beasley (Pistons)
Patrick Beverley (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
Jae Crowder (unsigned)
Danilo Gallinari (unsigned)
TyTy Washington (Suns)

Other moves

Waived Jaylin Galloway (two-way).

Salary cap situation

Operating over the cap ($140.6MM), over the luxury tax line ($170.8MM), and above the second tax apron ($188.9MM).
Carrying approximately $191.9MM in salary.
No hard cap.
No form of mid-level or bi-annual exception available.
Two traded player exceptions frozen/unavailable (both worth $2,019,706).

The offseason so far

While the Bucks’ season ended with a disappointing first-round playoff exit for a second straight year in 2024, their ability to meaningfully upgrade their roster this offseason was restricted by their proximity to the second tax apron, which hindered their ability to aggregate salaries in trades or to sign free agents to more than the veteran’s minimum.

Milwaukee could have shaken up its roster by trading one of its six highest-paid players – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, or Pat Connaughton – and reportedly at least considered the idea of moving Lopez. But that was never a practical path to upgrading the roster, since those players are generally more valuable to the Bucks on their current contracts and in their current roles than they would be as trade chips.

Instead, the Bucks added talent this summer via the draft and by shopping in the minimum-salary aisle in free agency. Faced with the departures of veterans like Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, and Jae Crowder, Milwaukee arguably upgraded each of those spots by signing Gary Trent Jr., Delon Wright, and Taurean Prince.

Like Beasley, Trent is a high-volume three-point shooter who doesn’t provide much in the way of play-making or defense. But Trent has a more well-rounded offensive game and more defensive upside than Beasley, having shown the ability to generate turnovers during his time in Toronto.

Beverley certainly talks a bigger game than Wright, but his fiery playing style isn’t always a plus, as he showed when he earned himself a suspension by firing a basketball at fans in Indiana during the last game of the Bucks’ season this spring. There’s little risk of that sort of temper tantrum from Wright, a consummate pro whose length and versatility on defense has long made him an underrated asset.

Crowder, meanwhile, isn’t the three-and-D dynamo he once was, and contributed next to nothing during his two playoff runs with the Bucks, making 6-of-25 shots (24.0%), including 1-of-13 three-pointers (7.7%), as the team was outscored by 43 points during his 83 playoff minutes. It’s no surprise he wasn’t re-signed. His replacement, Prince, was probably asked to do too much as a frequent starter for the Lakers last season, but as a reserve on a minimum-salary contract, the 37.6% career three-point shooter looks like a bargain.

Although the Bucks did a great job in free agency adding rotation-caliber veterans on team-friendly deals, their approach to the draft drew mixed reviews. They used the 23rd and 33rd overall picks, respectively, to select a pair of 19-year-olds, AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith. Both players will be developmental projects for the coaching staff, with neither one considered ready to earn regular minutes at the NBA level as rookies.

That’s a defensible strategy in a vacuum, but it’s a somewhat questionable approach for a team that’s looking to capitalize on a championship window and is already carrying several little-used young players on its roster (MarJon Beauchamp, A.J. Green, Andre Jackson, and Chris Livingston each averaged fewer than 13 minutes per game last season).

It may not be fair to expect the Bucks’ front office to draft this year’s Jaime Jaquez or Brandin Podziemski, but there were players in that 23-33 range who will have a better chance of contributing right away. Presumably, the club is counting on some of those returning prospects – starting with Beauchamp – to take a step forward, reducing the need for Johnson and Smith to play much until year two or three.

Financial considerations may also have factored into Milwaukee’s draft decisions — Johnson is one of the only first-round picks in recent years to accept a salary worth less than 120% of his rookie scale amount, while Smith was the lone draft pick in the top 37 who agreed to a minimum salary for 2024/25. It’s a safe bet the Bucks knew prior to drafting them that Johnson and Smith would sign those contracts, which will save ownership some tax dollars.

Up next

I’d be surprised if the Bucks make any major trades prior to opening night, but there are several contract situations to watch on this roster. Lopez is on an expiring deal, while Middleton, Portis, and Connaughton all have the ability to join him in unrestricted free agency next summer by turning down 2025/26 player options.

Lopez and Middleton won’t be extension-eligible in 2024/25, but Portis and Connaughton can both sign new deals anytime between now and June 30, 2025. They’re two of the Bucks’ best potential in-season trade chips, so it will be interesting to see whether the team decides to hold off on extensions, since signing them could make the duo ineligible to be dealt this season, depending on the terms.

Barring trades, the Bucks shouldn’t have any challenging roster decisions to make this fall. A two-way shake-up is a possibility – Stanley Umude, Anzejs Pasecniks, and Ryan Rollins occupy those spots for now – but Milwaukee’s standard roster looks pretty set, with 14 players on fully guaranteed salaries and Jackson on a partially guaranteed deal.

If the club isn’t encouraged by the progress Jackson is making, perhaps he’ll be waived to open up that 15th roster spot down the road, but there’s no point in doing it before opening night. His $946K partial guarantee ensures the Bucks will essentially get a free look at him during the first half, since that cap hit would be the same whether he’s waived on October 20 or January 7.

Celtics Sign Lonnie Walker To Exhibit 10 Deal

August 30th, 2024 at 3:56pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 30: Walker’s Exhibit 10 deal is official, according to RealGM’s transaction log.

AUGUST 28: The Celtics are signing free agent shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter), Walker will receive an Exhibit 10 training camp contract.

The 6’4″ swingman will be competing for the reigning champs’ 15th and final regular season roster spot. If Walker is waived before the regular season begins and decides to play in the G League with the Celtics’ affiliate, his Exhibit 10 contract would make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $77.5K.

Should he make Boston’s regular season roster, Walker could actually compete for rotation minutes off the bench, at least during the regular season. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer notes (via Twitter) that the veteran wing connected on almost 40% of his catch-and-shoot three-point tries across his past two seasons, while with the Lakers and Nets.

The 25-year-old is also deceptively athletic, and can finish effectively around the rim when given more extended time on the ball.

The high-flying guard spent his first four pro seasons with the Spurs, who selected him with the No. 18 pick out of Miami in 2018. He spent 2022/23 with the Lakers, providing useful bench minutes sporadically during L.A.’s run to the Western Conference Finals. In 2023/24, while on the lottery-bound Nets, Walker averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.6 steals across 17.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .423/.384/.763.

Boston’s interest in Walker dates back at least to last season. Ahead of February’s trade deadline, the Celtics inquired with Brooklyn about a potential deal for Walker, tweets Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

NBA’s Top 50 Highest-Paid Players For 2024/25

August 30th, 2024 at 2:12pm CST by Luke Adams

Many of the NBA’s highest-paid players are on contracts considered maximum-salary deals, but the 2024/25 salaries for those players vary significantly depending on when the player signed his contract and how much NBA experience he has. That’s why a player like Stephen Curry will earn nearly $22MM more than Deandre Ayton in ’24/25 despite both players technically being on max deals.

When a player signs a maximum-salary contract, he doesn’t necessarily earn the NBA max for each season of that contract — he earns the max in year one, then gets a series of identical annual raises. In Curry’s case, his 2024/25 salary actually exceeds this year’s maximum, since the annual cap increases since he began earning the max haven’t kept pace with his annual 8% raises.

Listed below, with some help from Spotrac‘s salary data, are the top 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2024/25 season. The players on this list don’t necessarily have the contracts with the largest overall value. This top 50 only considers the current league year, with the player’s ’24/25 base salary listed.

Additionally, we’ve noted players who could potentially increase their earnings via incentives or trade bonuses. We didn’t add those notes for players like Curry or Jaylen Brown, who have trade bonuses but are already earning the maximum — their salaries for this season can’t increase beyond their max.

Here are the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players for the 2024/25 season:

Stephen Curry, Warriors: $55,761,216
Joel Embiid, Sixers: $51,415,938
Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: $51,415,938
Bradley Beal, Suns: $50,203,930
Kevin Durant, Suns: $49,856,021
- Durant can earn another $1,323,000 in likely incentives.
Devin Booker, Suns: $49,205,800
Jaylen Brown, Celtics: $49,205,800
Paul George, Sixers: $49,205,800
Kawhi Leonard, Clippers: $49,205,800
Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves: $49,205,800
Jimmy Butler, Heat: $48,798,677 (15% trade kicker)
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: $48,787,676 (15% trade kicker)
Damian Lillard, Bucks: $48,787,676
LeBron James, Lakers: $48,728,845 (15% trade kicker)
Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves: $43,827,586
Anthony Davis, Lakers: $43,219,440 (15% trade kicker)
Zach LaVine, Bulls: $43,031,940 (15% trade kicker)
Luka Doncic, Mavericks: $43,031,940
Trae Young, Hawks: $43,031,940
Fred VanVleet, Rockets: $42,846,615
Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves: $42,176,400
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers: $42,176,400
Lauri Markkanen, Jazz: $42,176,400
Pascal Siakam, Pacers: $42,176,400
Ben Simmons, Nets: $40,338,144
Kyrie Irving, Mavericks: $40,000,000 (15% trade kicker)
- Irving can earn another $1,000,000 in likely incentives and $1,000,000 in unlikely incentives.
Domantas Sabonis, Kings: $39,200,000
- Sabonis can earn another $1,300,000 in likely incentives and $1,300,000 in unlikely incentives.
Darius Garland, Cavaliers: $36,725,670
Ja Morant, Grizzlies: $36,725,670
Zion Williamson, Pelicans: $36,725,670
OG Anunoby, Knicks: $36,637,932 (15% trade kicker)
Brandon Ingram, Pelicans: $36,016,200 (15% trade kicker)
Jamal Murray, Nuggets: $36,016,200
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: $35,859,950
Michael Porter Jr., Nuggets: $35,859,950
Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers: $35,410,310
LaMelo Ball, Hornets: $35,147,000
Tyrese Maxey, Sixers: $35,147,000
Jayson Tatum, Celtics: $34,848,340 (15% trade kicker)
Bam Adebayo, Heat: $34,848,340
De’Aaron Fox, Kings: $34,848,340
Desmond Bane, Grizzlies: $34,005,250 (15% trade kicker)
- Bane can earn another $1,141,750 in unlikely incentives.
Deandre Ayton, Trail Blazers: $34,005,126
James Harden, Clippers: $33,653,846 (15% trade kicker)
CJ McCollum, Pelicans: $33,333,333
Immanuel Quickley, Raptors: $32,500,000
- Quickley can earn another $2,500,000 in unlikely incentives.
Khris Middleton, Bucks: $31,000,000
- Middleton can earn another $666,667 in likely incentives and $2,333,334 in unlikely incentives.
Isaiah Hartenstein, Thunder: $30,000,000
Jrue Holiday, Celtics: $30,000,000
Jerami Grant, Trail Blazers: $29,793,104

The cutoff point for this year’s top-50 list very nearly reached $30MM for the first time in NBA history. And it’s actually possible that cutoff will exceed $30MM by the time the season concludes.

A handful of players who just missed the top 50 have the ability to earn more than Grant’s $29.8MM base salary if they achieve certain performance incentives during the coming season.

Here are the players who could break into the top 50 by season’s end:

Jordan Poole, Wizards: $29,651,786
- Poole can earn another $3,750,000 in unlikely incentives.
Devin Vassell, Spurs: $29,347,826
- Vassell can earn another $2,391,303 in unlikely incentives.
Tyler Herro, Heat: $29,000,000
- Herro can earn another $2,500,000 in unlikely incentives.
Julius Randle, Knicks: $27,561,600 (15% trade kicker)
- Randle can earn another $1,378,080 in likely incentives and $1,378,080 in unlikely incentives.
Dejounte Murray, Pelicans: $24,799,600
- Murray earned an additional $4,017,535 via a trade bonus on top of his base salary; he can also earn another $699,999 in likely incentives and $1,399,998 in unlikely incentives.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

And-Ones: 2025 Storylines, Media News, G. Davis

August 30th, 2024 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

With few major offseason storylines left to resolve in 2024, Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) takes an early look at the 2025 landscape, forecasting which stories will dominate NBA headlines next summer.

As Marks details, LeBron James will be one of the top free agents to watch for a second straight offseason, since he holds a 2025/26 player option. However, the rest of the 2025 free agent class isn’t particularly star-studded, with Jimmy Butler, Julius Randle, and Brandon Ingram among the top players to keep an eye on.

Barely any teams project to have 2025 cap room at this point, Marks notes, so high-level free agents who want to change teams may require a sign-and-trade. The one team that projects to have significant cap space is Brooklyn, so it could be a big summer for the Nets, who will be in position to be one of the league’s most active teams even if they don’t pursue top free agents.

Cooper Flagg‘s destination, the ongoing impact of the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement, and a 2025 rookie scale extension class headlined by Paolo Banchero are a few of the other storylines previewed by Marks.

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

A pair of notable NBA news-breakers are making career changes ahead of the 2024/25 season, according to reporting from Ryan Glasspiegel of The New York Post. Shams Charania is leaving Stadium, while Chris Haynes is parting ways with TNT Sports, per Glasspiegel, who says Charania remains under contract with The Athletic and FanDuel TV, though those deals are up soon as well. As Glasspiegel points out, NBC and Amazon Prime Video will likely be seeking NBA reporters and analysts as they prepare to broadcast games beginning in 2025, so it’s possible Charania and/or Haynes could be targeted by one of those new league partners.
In other NBA media news, Grant Hill, Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler, and Jay Bilas are among the top candidates to replace J.J. Redick on the top ABC/ESPN broadcast crew for the NBA Finals, sources tell Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. It’s possible ABC/ESPN will try a two-person booth of Mike Breen and Doris Burke, but the network would ideally like a three-person broadcast team, Marchand adds.
Amazon has scrapped its plans to make a $115MM investment in Diamond Sports Group to help lift the company out of bankruptcy, as Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reports. Friend and Evan Drellich of The Athletic explores what that lost investment means for Diamond, which still controls regional sports networks that air games locally for 13 NBA teams.
A New York judge ruled this week that former NBA forward Glen Davis can wait until October 22 to begin serving his 40-month prison sentence for fraud, Larry Neumeister of The Associated Press. That judge postponed Davis’ deadline to report to prison by seven weeks to allow him to finish a documentary film project about his life.

Evan Fournier Reportedly Considering EuroLeague Offers

August 30th, 2024 at 10:52am CST by Luke Adams

Since having his 2024/25 team option turned down by the Pistons and becoming an unrestricted free agent, Evan Fournier has been seeking out potential NBA opportunities. But with no deal having materialized stateside approximately two months later, the French swingman is “seriously considering” the possibility of returning to Europe, reports Michalis Stefanou of Eurohoops.

According to Stefanou, EuroLeague teams based in Spain, Italy, and France have either made a contract offer to Fournier or expressed interest in signing him.

As Stefanou points out, Fournier tweeted back in 2022 that if he were ever to return to the EuroLeague, his top choice would be Olympiacos, but it’s unclear whether the Greek club is among those teams with interest in the veteran wing.

Before being selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2012 draft by the Nuggets, Fournier spent time with JSF Nanterre and Poitiers Basket 86 in France, so the 31-year-old is no stranger to playing overseas. However, he has been in the NBA for the past 12 seasons, appearing in more than 700 total regular season games for Denver, Orlando, Boston, New York, and Detroit.

Fournier was a reliable starter and scorer for several years in his prime, averaging over 15 points per game for six consecutive seasons from 2015-21 and setting a Knicks team record for most three-pointers in a single season in 2021/22 with 241 (Donte DiVincenzo broke that record this past season).

However, he fell out of Tom Thibodeau‘s rotation in New York during the ’22/23 season, and after eventually getting the change of scenery he sought, he struggled to make an impact in Detroit during the second half of the ’23/24 campaign, averaging just 7.2 points in 18.7 minutes per game across 29 outings, with a .373/.270/.794 shooting line.

Marc Stein reported during the second week of July that the Wizards may have interest in Fournier as a potential veteran mentor to young Frenchmen Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly. Nothing came of that though, and there haven’t been any reports since then linking Fournier to any specific NBA teams.

He probably didn’t help his stock much by posting modest numbers (9.8 PPG on 34.0% shooting, including 32.4% on three-pointers) during France’s silver medal run at the Paris Olympics.

Omer Yurtseven Signs With Panathinaikos

August 30th, 2024 at 9:08am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent center Omer Yurtseven has signed a contract with Panathinaikos, the Greek club announced today in a press release. The two sides worked out an agreement after Panathinaikos’ interest in Yurtseven was reported several weeks ago, finalizing a two-year deal that includes a second-year option.

Yurtseven, 26, spent the past three seasons in the NBA, appearing in a total of 113 games for the Heat and Jazz during that time and posting averages of 5.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per contest.

The seven-footer showed promise as a rookie in 2021/22, earning backup center minutes for the Heat for a significant chunk of the season, but was limited to just nine appearances the following year due to an ankle injury. He inked a multiyear contract with the Jazz during the 2023 offseason, but it wasn’t guaranteed for 2024/25, so Utah cut him loose at the start of free agency.

Yurtseven’s deal with Panathinaikos will reunite him with head coach Ergin Ataman, who also coaches the Turkish national team. In a statement passed along by the team, the big man cited Ataman’s presence as a “very important” factor in his decision to join the Greek club.

Panathinaikos is coming off a dominant season in which it went 26-1 in Greek League play and defeated Olympiacos to win the championship. The team also had a 23-11 regular season record in EuroLeague competition and knocked off Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fenerbahce, and Real Madrid in the postseason to win its seventh EuroLeague title.

Bruno Caboclo Signs With Hapoel Tel Aviv

August 30th, 2024 at 7:46am CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA first-round pick Bruno Caboclo has signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Israeli club formally announced today (via Twitter). According to a Sport5 report relayed by Sportando, the contract covers two seasons. Previous reporting indicated the second year would be a team option.

Caboclo was said to be working out with the Warriors this week in the hopes of landing an NBA contract. While it’s possible Caboclo’s deal includes an NBA opt-out clause in the event that he receives an offer from Golden State or another team, the fact that he’s officially moving forward with Tel Aviv suggests that no NBA opportunity he likes has materialized.

The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo spent parts of seven seasons in the NBA, but appeared in just 105 total games for the Raptors, Kings, Grizzlies, and Rockets from 2014-21. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per contest.

Caboclo has been more effective on the international stage, winning a German League (BBL) title in 2023 with Ratiopharm Ulm and earning All-EuroCup Second Team honors that season before spending the 2023/24 campaign with Partizan Belgrade in the EuroLeague. He also represented Brazil in this year’s Olympics, leading the national team with 17.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in 22.1 minutes per game across four outings.

Hapoel Tel Aviv, which is aiming to earn a promotion to the EuroLeague by winning a EuroCup title in 2024/25, also added NBA veterans Patrick Beverley and Ish Wainright earlier this summer.

Wizards Sign Kira Lewis, Jaylen Nowell, Leaky Black

August 30th, 2024 at 6:45am CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 30: Over a month after agreeing to terms with them, the Wizards have officially signed Lewis, Nowell, and Black, having listed all three players as part of their 21-man training camp roster.

AUGUST 28: The Wizards have reached contract agreements with free agents Kira Lewis, Jaylen Nowell, and Leaky Black, league sources tell Josh Robbins and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

According to Robbins and Charania, all three players will sign Exhibit 10 contracts with Washington and will be given an opportunity to compete in training camp for regular season roster spots.

Lewis, 23, was the 13th overall pick in the 2020 draft, but only appeared in 131 games across his first four NBA seasons due in large part to injuries, including a torn ACL he suffered during the 2021/22 season. The 6’1″ guard has averaged 5.2 points and 1.8 assists in 13.3 minutes per game for the Pelicans, Raptors, and Jazz. Last season, he was traded three times – from New Orleans to Indiana to Toronto to Utah – before reaching unrestricted free agency when the Jazz declined to issue a qualifying offer.

Nowell, a 6’4″ shooting guard, spent his first four NBA seasons in Minnesota from 2019-23, averaging 9.1 points per game on .447/.322/.798 shooting in 184 appearances for the Timberwolves. Despite showing promise as a scorer, Nowell was unable to find a regular NBA job last season — he was waived by Sacramento ahead of opening night, then signed two 10-day contracts apiece with the Grizzlies and Pistons during the season. The 25-year-old spend most of the 2023/24 campaign with the Stockton Kings in the G League.

Black, 25, spent his rookie season with the Hornets after going undrafted out of UNC in 2023. The 6’6″ forward saw limited action in 26 NBA games while on a two-way contract with Charlotte. He played a larger role for the Greensboro Swarm in the NBAGL, posting averages of 7.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 24.8 MPG across 25 total Showcase Cup and regular season outings. His two-way deal covered two seasons, but he was waived by the Hornets about four weeks ago.

Exhibit 10 contracts allow players to earn bonuses worth up to $77.5K if they’re waived by their NBA teams and then spend at least 60 days with the club’s G League affiliate, so it’s possible Lewis, Nowell, and/or Black will end up playing for the Capital City Go-Go. Exhibit 10 deals can also be converted to two-way contracts prior to opening night, but Lewis and Nowell have more than three years of NBA service and are therefore ineligible to be two-way players.

The Wizards currently have 16 players on standard contracts (15 guaranteed), with a pair on two-way deals. While Black figures to be in the mix for the team’s open two-way slot, it will be an uphill battle for Lewis or Nowell to make the standard regular season roster unless Washington intends to trade or waive a player with a guaranteed contract.

Load More Posts