Celtics Notes: Tatum, Mavs, Camp Questions, Maine Staff

Appearing on “The Tonight Show” to promote his children’s book, Celtics star Jayson Tatum made a few predictions about the upcoming season, as Max Molski of NBC Sports Boston relays. Notably, Tatum picked himself to win MVP, and said he thinks the Celtics will return to the NBA Finals again in 2025.

It’s gonna be a rematch. We’re gonna play Dallas again,” Tatum said.

Boston claimed its 18th championship by defeating the Mavericks in the 2024 Finals. Jaylen Brown was voted Finals MVP.

Here’s more on the Celtics:

  • With an early training camp set to open in under two weeks, Jared Weiss of The Athletic lists five questions facing the defending champions entering 2024/25, including how Tatum and Brown will respond to some minor controversies with Team USA this summer. Weiss also wonders which young players will crack the rotation this season, with Jaden Springer and Baylor Scheierman looking like the top contenders entering camp.
  • Former Wizards player development coach Landon Tatum has joined Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, as an assistant coach, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter). Tatum had been with Washington since 2016, Scotto notes.
  • Tatum’s hiring was confirmed in a press release from the Maine Celtics announcing the team’s coaching staff for ’24/25. Tyler Lashbrook, who was a player development assistant on Joe Mazzulla‘s staff last season, has been named Maine’s head coach. “Tyler is a great coach who excels in relationship management and communication,” said Mazzulla. “Last season he led our late game situational prep and took the lead on developing some of our younger players. I am excited for Tyler to have this opportunity to grow as a coach and leader, and to impact the Maine team and community.” Assistant Steve Tchiengang has been promoted to Maine’s associate head coach, while Taaj Ridley is also back for a second season. Tatum and Brendan Baker are the team’s new assistants, per the release.

Trail Blazers Sign Taze Moore To Two-Way Deal

2:52pm: Moore’s two-way deal is official, the Blazers announced in a press release.


12:41pm: The Trail Blazers plan to sign free agent guard Taze Moore to a two-way contract, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Moore, who went undrafted in 2022, spent his first professional season with the G League’s Dallas Legends after signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Mavericks and being waived before 2022/23 began. Last season, he again spent most of the campaign in the NBAGL, splitting time between the Legends and the Rip City Remix, Portland’s affiliate.

The Blazers signed Moore to a 10-day contract in late January, though he only played a total of about 10 minutes over three appearances. In April, they brought him back on a 10-day hardship deal for the final day of the ’23/24 regular season, when he put up 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal in 30 minutes during a blowout loss to Sacramento.

In 22 regular season games with the Remix in ’23/24 (30.7 minutes per contest), Moore averaged 15.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.4 steals on .498/.351/.733 shooting.

Known for his explosive athleticism, Moore joined the Vancouver Bandits in the Canadian Elite Basketball League after the NBA’s regular season concluded. The 26-year-old won MVP of the 10-team CEBL, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report, who notes that Moore recently participated in some exhibition games with G League United as well.

Back in 2022, Chris Baldwin of PaperCity Magazine wrote an interesting story about Moore, who was unable to play basketball for nearly two full years due to a major leg injury, which required five surgeries. The left-handed guard spent most of his college career at Cal State Bakersfield before transferring to Houston for the ’21/22 season.

As our tracker shows, Moore will fill Portland’s third and final two-way slot, joining Justin Minaya and Bryce McGowens. The Blazers will have 20 players under contract once the deal is official, one shy of the offseason limit.

Suns, Mamadi Diakite Agree To Exhibit 10 Contract

The Suns are signing free agent big man Mamadi Diakite to an Exhibit 10 contract, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

While it’s possible that Diakite could impress Phoenix during training camp and earn a spot on the team’s standard roster, it seems more likely the move was designed for him to open the season in the NBA G League. The Suns currently have 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts, but they’re well over the second luxury tax apron — adding a 15th standard deal would be very expensive and inhibit roster flexibility.

Earlier on Friday, the Valley Suns, Phoenix’s new NBAGL affiliate, announced that they had acquired Diakite’s returning player rights from the Westchester Knicks (New York’s affiliate) in exchange for the returning player rights to Theo Maledon and Trevion Williams (Twitter link).

If Diakite is waived before the 2024/25 season begins, he’ll be eligible for a bonus worth up to $77.5K (on top of his regular NBAGL salary) if he spends at least 60 days with the Valley Suns. As a four-year veteran, he is no longer eligible for a two-way contract.

A 6’9″ forward/center who played his college ball at Virginia, Diakite has appeared in a total of 55 regular season games for the Bucks, Thunder, Cavaliers, Spurs, and Knicks since making his NBA debut in 2021. He holds career averages of 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per contest.

Diakite, 27, finished last season with the Knicks, then was traded to Brooklyn in the Mikal Bridges blockbuster in July. He was flipped from the Nets to the Grizzlies in a subsequent deal that sent Ziaire Williams to Brooklyn and allowed Memphis to re-sign Luke Kennard while staying out of luxury tax territory.

The Grizzlies wound up waiving Diakite last month, using the stretch provision to spread his $1,392,150 partial guarantee over the next three seasons ($464,050 annually through 2026/27).

As Scotto observes, Diakite won a title with Milwaukee in 2021. At the time, the Bucks were led by Mike Budenholzer, who is now Phoenix’s head coach.

Two CBA Measures Coming In 2025 Will Make Dynasty-Building Even Harder

The NBA's current Collective Bargaining Agreement went into effect fairly recently, in 2023, and many of the more punitive restrictions on tax apron teams weren't implemented until 2024, but we're already feeling the impact of the new CBA on the league's highest-spending clubs.

The Celtics, Bucks, Suns, and Timberwolves, who are operating above the second tax apron in 2024/25, were unable to sign any outside free agents for more than the veteran's minimum this offseason. They've also faced significant limitations on the trade market, including an inability to aggregate salaries, trade cash, use previous trade exceptions, or take back more salary than they send out.

Those restrictions have been a major factor in the clubs' relative inactivity on the trade market. Boston and Milwaukee are two of just four teams around the NBA who haven't made any trades this summer. The Lakers, another one of those four teams who haven't made a deal, are operating just a hair below the second apron).

Meanwhile, of the four second-apron teams, the Suns are the only one to have acquired a player on an NBA contract in an offseason trade. That deal - David Roddy for E.J. Liddell - was a straightforward salary dump that ultimately resulted in the newly acquired player (Liddell) being waived for luxury tax savings, which serves as an important reminder -- on top of their roster-building limitations, those apron teams will be on the hook for substantial tax payments at season's end.

Still, as impactful as the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement has already been on some of the NBA's most expensive rosters, some of the toughest penalties being imposed on the league's biggest spenders are still to come in 2025. Today, we're taking a closer look at a couple more notable ways in which the current CBA will complicate teams' dynasty-building efforts in the coming years by further disincentivizing big spending.

Let's dive in...

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Jimmy Butler Among Stars Warriors Monitoring

After missing out on targets like Paul George and Lauri Markkanen this offseason, the Warriors remain on the lookout for stars who might become available on the trade market, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who said on The TK Show (YouTube link) that Heat forward Jimmy Butler is among the players Golden State is monitoring.

“Jimmy Butler’s going to be a free agent next summer, didn’t get an extension done,” Amick said. “The Warriors, as you know, have interest there and I think probably made a couple calls during the summer.”

As Amick observes, the Warriors aren’t in position to pursue top free agents due to their salary cap situation, so if they’re going to acquire a star to complement Stephen Curry, they’ll almost certainly need to do so via trade. Golden State will be hoping for the “wheels to fall off” for a would-be contender, resulting in an All-Star caliber player seeking a change of scenery, Amick notes.

Butler, who will turn 35 on Saturday, is entering what could be a contract year in Miami. Although by all accounts he remains committed to the Heat, the six-time All-Star has reportedly told the team he won’t sign an extension before next summer and will reevaluate his options next offseason, when he holds a $52.4MM player option for 2025/26.

If the Heat get off to a poor start this season, it’s possible they’ll consider the idea of moving Butler at the trade deadline, though there’s no indication they’ve seriously considered that possibility to this point.

Should Butler finish the season in Miami, there would be myriad options available to him next summer — he could re-up with the Heat (either on an extension or a new contract), he could decline his option to sign elsewhere, or he could work out an opt-in-and-trade deal that sends him to a new destination. That last scenario would be the most viable path for him to land in Golden State. The Warriors explored a similar arrangement with George before he declined his player option in June.

Amick also names Lakers forward LeBron James, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Suns stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker as some other players the Warriors are likely monitoring. However, he acknowledges that they’re long shots and could only emerge as possible targets if they sour on their current situations.

“It’s that level of a player, where you just kind of hope that one of them starts looking out for greener pastures,” Amick said.

2024/25 NBA Over/Unders: Central Division

With the 2024/25 NBA regular season set to tip off next month, we’re getting serious about predictions for the upcoming campaign and continuing an annual Hoops Rumors tradition.

With the help of the lines from a series of sports betting sites – including Bovada and BetOnline – we’re running through the predicted win totals for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, by division. In a series of team-by-team polls, you’ll get the chance to weigh in on whether you think those forecasts are too optimistic or too pessimistic.

In 2023/24, our voters went 16-14 on their over/under picks. Can you top that in ’24/25?

We’ll continue our series today with the Central Division…


Milwaukee Bucks


Cleveland Cavaliers


Indiana Pacers


Chicago Bulls


Detroit Pistons


Previous voting results:

Atlantic

  • Boston Celtics (58.5 wins): Over (69.7%)
  • New York Knicks (53.5 wins): Over (58.8%)
  • Philadelphia 76ers (52.5 wins): Under (51.7%)
  • Toronto Raptors (30.5 wins): Under (58.7%)
  • Brooklyn Nets (19.5 wins): Over (54.3%)

Southwest

  • Dallas Mavericks (49.5 wins): Over (78.0%)
  • Memphis Grizzlies (47.5 wins): Under (65.6%)
  • New Orleans Pelicans (46.5 wins): Under (60.6%)
  • Houston Rockets (43.5 wins): Under (51.4%)
  • San Antonio Spurs (36.5 wins): Under (52.9%)

Southeast

  • Orlando Magic (47.5 wins): Over (57.1%)
  • Miami Heat (44.5 wins): Under (63.1%)
  • Atlanta Hawks (35.5 wins): Under (66.4%)
  • Charlotte Hornets (29.5 wins): Under (63.1%)
  • Washington Wizards (20.5 wins): Under (56.6%)

Northwest

  • Oklahoma City Thunder (56.5 wins): Over (68.1%)
  • Minnesota Timberwolves (52.5 wins): Over (65.2%)
  • Denver Nuggets (51.5 wins): Over (54.3%)
  • Utah Jazz (29.5 wins): Under (60.1%)
  • Portland Trail Blazers (22.5 wins): Under (54.7%)

International Notes: Marjanovic, Musa, Petrusev, Collet

Veteran NBA center Boban Marjanovic is receiving interest from Turkish club Besiktas, according to a report from Meridian Sport (hat tip to Eurohoops).

Marjanovic, 36, has spent the past nine seasons in the NBA and reportedly continues to seek a new opportunity in the league. However, he’s no stranger to European competition, having played in Serbia, Russia, and Lithuania from 2006-15 before making the move across the Atlantic.

The big man led the EuroLeague in rebounding and was named to the All-EuroLeague first team in 2015 during his last season overseas as a member of Crvena Zvezda. He also won a Serbian League (KLS) title that year.

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

  • Former first-round pick Dzanan Musa, who has been with Real Madrid since 2022, said he turned down NBA interest this offseason in order to stick with the Spanish club, as Kevin Martorano of Sportando relays. “I am very happy in Madrid and to stay here I turned down some offers from the NBA,” Musa told Ricardo Gonzalez of AS.com. “I never closed that door completely, but I would not leave here for any reason. I am a winner, I want to play to win.” Musa, 25, appeared in 49 games for Brooklyn from 2018-20.
  • Greek club Olympiacos had been expected to loan out former Sixers big man Filip Petrusev to Crvena Zvezda this season, but Petrusev appears likely to stick with Olympiacos for now as a result of injuries to centers Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov, Martorano writes for Sportando. Crvena Zvezda assistant Giannis Sfairopoulos said Petrusev isn’t in the Serbian team’s plans at the moment, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.
  • After coaching the French national team for 15 years and winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, Vincent Collet has – as expected – stepped down from the position, transitioning to an advisory role on the French Federation of Basketball, per a press release. Under Collet, France also won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and took home a pair of World Cup bronze medals in 2014 and 2019.
  • After returning to Europe this offseason, will Cedi Osman, Omer Yurtseven, and Furkan Korkmaz eventually find their way back to the NBA? Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com (subscription required) spoke to NBA sources about the odds of each player returning stateside in 2025 or further down the road.

NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Orlando Magic

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 Orlando Magic.


Free agent signings

  • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Three years, $66,000,000. Third-year player option. Signed using cap room.
  • Goga Bitadze: Three years, $25,000,000. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
  • Moritz Wagner: Two years, $22,000,000. Second-year team option. Re-signed using Bird rights. Waived right to veto trade.
  • Gary Harris: Two years, $15,000,000. Second-year team option. Re-signed using Bird rights. Waived right to veto trade.
  • Cory Joseph: Two years, minimum salary ($6,772,731). Second-year team option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Jarrett Culver: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Myron Gardner: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Tre Scott: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
  • Jalen Slawson: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

  • Acquired the right to swap their own 2030 second-round pick with the Pelicans’ 2030 second-round pick and the right to swap their own 2031 second-round pick with the Pelicans’ 2031 second-round pick from the Pelicans in exchange for the draft rights to Antonio Reeves (No. 47 pick).

Draft picks

  • 1-18: Tristan Da Silva
    • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $17,567,626).

Two-way signings

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other moves

  • Signed Franz Wagner to a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension that begins in 2025/26. Projected value of $224,238,150 (starting at 25% of the cap). Projected value can increase to $246,661,965 (27.5% of the cap) or $269,085,780 (30% of the cap) if Wagner meets Rose Rule performance criteria. Includes 15% trade kicker.
  • Renegotiated and extended Jonathan Isaac‘s one-year, $17.4MM contract. Increased 2024/25 salary by $7.6MM to $25MM. Added four years, $59,000,000. Partially guaranteed in 2026/27 ($8MM). Non-guaranteed in 2027/28 and ’28/29.

Salary cap situation

  • Went below the cap to use room.
  • Now operating over the cap ($140.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8MM).
  • Carrying approximately $150.4MM in salary.
  • No hard cap.
  • Full room exception ($8MM) available.

The offseason so far

For the past several years, the Magic have built their roster patiently and incrementally, frequently re-signing their own veteran free agents to flexible, short-term deals and adding young talent through the draft while forgoing major splashes on the trade and free agent markets.

In some ways, they stuck to that approach again this offseason. Role players Goga Bitadze, Moritz Wagner, and Gary Harris all got new deals as free agents, with Wagner and Harris signing what have become Orlando specials: two-year contracts with strong first-year guaranteed salaries and team options on the second year.

I’m not sure there was another team out there prepared to give Wagner $11MM or Harris $7.5MM for the 2024/25 season, but Orlando, operating far below the luxury tax line, can comfortably afford those salaries. And the fact that the Magic were willing to go a bit higher than other teams might have earned them a couple key concessions — not only do both contracts have second-year team options, but both players agreed to waive their right to veto a trade, so if the Magic have the opportunity to make an in-season deal for a higher-salary player, Wagner and/or Harris could be used for matching purposes.

Bitadze’s deal, meanwhile, is guaranteed for three seasons, signaling his value in a free agent class that lacked many reliable options at center beyond Nic Claxton and Isaiah Hartenstein. Bitadze remains somewhat underrated. He’s entering his age-25 season, made 33 starts for a playoff team, and hit a career-high 60.3% of his field goals while blocking 1.2 shots in just 15.4 minutes per game. With Wendell Carter and Wagner also in the mix at center, the Magic have three solid – if unspectacular – options in the middle.

The two most lucrative contracts the Magic handed out this summer were to players who were already under contract for 2024/25. As a result of their extensions, Franz Wagner and Jonathan Isaac are now under team control through 2030 and 2029, respectively.

The Wagner investment (a projected $224MM+ over five years, beginning in 2025/26) is a bit of a tough pill to swallow for a player who has never averaged 20 points per game, made 28.1% of his three-pointers last season, and put up a dud in Game 7 of the first-round playoff loss to Cleveland (six points on 1-of-15 shooting). That deal is more about what the Magic believe the 23-year-old will become than what he is right now. Still, I’d feel a little better about it if Orlando could have gotten Wagner to agree to even a Desmond Bane-type contract, a little below the max.

The Isaac renegotiation and extension ($84MM in total money over the next five seasons) actually might be the better value of the two deals. That may sound odd on the surface, given that the forward averaged just 15.8 minutes per game in 58 appearances last season. But it was his first full year back after missing most of three seasons due to knee issues, and when he’s healthy, Isaac is one of the league’s most impactful defensive players.

The Magic had a +10.9 net rating when Isaac was on the court last season, compared to a -0.3 mark when he sat. Plus, his new contract – which dips to around $15MM annually beginning in 2025 – is only fully guaranteed for the next two years, with a partial guarantee in 2026/27 and non-guaranteed salaries in the final two seasons.

Besides re-signing their own players, the Magic continued to add young talent to their roster in the draft. This year’s No. 18 selection was Orlando’s lowest top pick since 2012, so the team likely won’t count on Tristan Da Silva to play a significant role as a rookie. Still, the former Colorado forward, who made 39.5% of his three-pointers over his last two college seasons, makes sense on a roster that finished dead-last among 30 NBA teams in three-pointers made in 2023/24.

The summer of 2024 deviated from the Magic’s recent offseasons in one crucial way. After winning 47 games, the team was ready to take a bigger swing by adding a top veteran free agent to its young core. Orlando made use of its cap room to land Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a three-and-D wing who has been a starter for two separate champions teams (the 2020 Lakers and 2023 Nuggets) in the past five seasons.

A 40.6% three-point shooter over the past four years, Caldwell-Pope should provide much-needed floor spacing for the Magic while further fortifying a defense that ranked third in the NBA last season. Perhaps just as importantly, he and fellow newcomer Cory Joseph will join Harris as the only players on Orlando’s roster who have won an NBA postseason series.

The Magic’s guaranteed deal with Joseph was a little surprising, given that he was waived by Golden State halfway through the 2023/24 season and didn’t find a job down the stretch. But like Caldwell-Pope, he has championship experience – having won a title with the Spurs in 2014 – and will provide veteran leadership in the locker room.

I had thought Orlando might target a point guard capable of playing a larger on-court role, especially with Markelle Fultz and secondary play-maker Joe Ingles departing in free agency. But the Magic appear set to rely on former No. 6 overall pick Anthony Black to take on increased responsibilities alongside ball-handlers like Jalen Suggs, Cole Anthony, Wagner, and rising star forward Paolo Banchero.


Up next

The Magic’s projected 15-man regular season roster looks full, but the team does have a pair of two-way spots open, with Trevelin Queen the only player currently on a two-way deal in Orlando. Non-guaranteed signees like Mac McClung, Jalen Slawson, Tre Scott, and Myron Gardner could end up competing for those spots; the club could also keep an eye on the waiver wire to see if any intriguing targets shake loose before opening night.

It’s worth noting that the Magic are operating about $20MM below the luxury tax line. Few NBA teams have that sort of financial flexibility at this point — only the Pistons, Jazz, and Spurs have smaller team salaries for 2024/25. That could make Orlando a popular trade partner for clubs looking to shed a little salary, though a deal along those lines is more likely to materialize during the season than in the preseason.

Two Magic rotation players are eligible for extensions up until October 21 and both are interesting cases. We’ll start with Jalen Suggs, a former No. 5 overall pick who is up for a rookie scale extension.

Unlike Wagner, Suggs won’t receive a maximum-salary offer, but after a season in which he knocked down 39.7% of his three-pointers and earned All-Defensive second team honors, the 23-year-old’s stock is on the rise and an extension won’t come cheap.

In the year before he signed a five-year, $131MM rookie scale extension with Minnesota, Jaden McDaniels averaged 12.1 PPG with a .398 3PT% and excellent defense. It’s safe to assume Suggs’ representatives will bring up that deal in negotiations with Orlando and make the case that Suggs (12.6 PPG, .397 3PT%, excellent defense) deserves a similar payday, or even a larger one, given his additional offensive responsibilities.

Carter will become eligible for a veteran extension on October 1, giving Orlando a three-week window to get something done. He still has a couple years left on his current contract, so if the two sides don’t work something out this offseason, they’ll have another chance in 2025.

As outlined above, Orlando has no shortage of options at center, but Carter – a solid defender who can stretch the floor – is the best of the bunch and has been a coveted target for teams in need of a big man (including the Pelicans). If the Magic can lock him up at a fair price, I expect they’ll do so, but it will likely take a significant bump on his current contract, which will pay him $22.8MM over the next two seasons. The Magic would be limited to offering him a starting salary worth up to 140% of next season’s estimated average salary.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Hornets, Friedman, Wade

After two years in Atlanta, Dejounte Murray was traded to New Orleans in July, leaving an open backcourt spot in the Hawks‘ projected starting lineup next to star point guard Trae Young. Who will fill that opening? Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required) considers the options, suggesting that as many as five players could be in the mix for the job.

Bogdan Bogdanovic and Dyson Daniels look like the top candidates. A Young/Bogdanovic pairing in the backcourt could create some problems on the defensive end, according to Williams, though she notes that Bogdanovic improved on that end of the court last season. Daniels, meanwhile, has the makings of an elite point-of-attack defender, but he has yet to display much of an offensive game at the NBA level and will be new to the Hawks’ system.

Vit Krejci, Garrison Mathews, and Kobe Bufkin are the other shooting guard possibilities Williams looks at, though she acknowledges that not all of them are locks to end up in the regular rotation, let alone to vie for a starting role.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

  • The Hawks will hold their training camp next month at the University of Georgia in Athens, per Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, while the Hornets will conduct their camp in Durham at Duke University, according to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. It’ll be a familiar setting for Hornets big man Mark Williams, who played his college ball with the Blue Devils.
  • Assistant coach Nick Friedman, who spent the past five seasons in the Hornets organization, is joining the Capital City Go-Go – the Wizards‘ G League affiliate – under head coach Cody Toppert, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Friedman and Toppert previously worked together with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Northern Arizona Suns, Scotto notes.
  • The Heat announced on Thursday that they’ll be unveiling a statue of Dwyane Wade outside Kaseya Center on Sunday, October 27, as Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald relays. Wade will be honored by the team the following night during the Oct. 28 home game vs. Detroit.

G League Moves: Kings, Wizards, Cavs, Jazz, Hawks, More

While the NBA trade market has been quiet since July, NBA G League teams have been active in recent days, swapping returning player rights and draft picks ahead of the 2024/25 season.

A player’s G League returning rights are only valuable in certain situations. If a player is on a standard or two-way contract with an NBA team, those returning rights mean little, since the player will play for his NBA’s team affiliate when he reports to the G League. Even for players not on NBA rosters, returning rights offer no assurances for G League teams — the player could opt to play in Europe, Australia, Asia, or in another non-NBAGL league.

However, most G League trades made at this point in the year are completed with the knowledge that at least one of the players involved in the deal intends to sign an NBAGL contract and report to the team acquiring him. And in some cases, the trades represent the start of a greater opportunity for a player.

For instance, last summer, Trevelin Queen (Osceola Magic) and Alondes Williams (Sioux Falls Skyforce) were among the players who had their returning rights acquired by new teams. Queen and Williams initially signed training camp contracts with the NBA parent clubs (Orlando and Miami), but were eventually promoted to two-way deals and finished the 2023/24 season in the NBA.

Here are some details on the latest trades completed in the G League:

  • The Stockton Kings, Capital City Go-Go (Wizards), and Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers) finalized a three-team deal that sent Jules Bernard‘s returning rights to Cleveland, the rights to Dexter Dennis and Justin Powell to Stockton, and NBA veteran Jaylen Nowell to Capital City, per a press release from the Kings. Nowell has reportedly agreed to a camp deal with the Wizards.
  • Stockton followed up that deal by reaching a separate agreement with the Salt Lake City Stars, the Jazz‘s affiliate (press release). The Kings acquired the rights to Jayce Johnson and a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for the rights to Dane Goodwin.
  • The College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks‘ G League affiliate, sent the returning rights to Miles Norris and Joel Ayayi to the Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies) in exchange for Michael Devoe‘s rights and the Indiana Mad Ants’ 2025 first-round pick.
  • The Skyhawks subsequently flipped that 2025 Mad Ants first-rounder to the San Diego Clippers for Joey Hauser‘s rights (Twitter links). Hauser is reportedly joining the Hawks this fall on an Exhibit 10 deal.
  • The Mexico City Capitanes – the G League’s only unaffiliated team – has made a pair of trades. The Capitanes sent Ethan Thompson‘s rights to the Osceola Magic in exchange for the rights to D.J. Wilson and a 2024 first-round pick (Twitter link), then acquired Greg Brown‘s returning rights from the Texas Legends (Mavericks) in exchange for the rights to Phillip Wheeler and a 2025 second-round pick (press release).