LaVine, who was also viewed as a trade candidate last season, has been healthier and more productive in 2024/25 and is one year closer to the end of his maximum-salary contract. However, the market for the Bulls star is still expected to be very limited due to his substantial cap hit and the restrictions imposed by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, says Marks.

“If we were operating under the 2017 CBA and there were no apron rules, I could make a case to my owner on LaVine,” one team source told ESPN. “But his salary boxes you into a corner on how we can add to the roster.”

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

• Bryce Cotton hasn’t been on an NBA roster since 2016, but the 32-year-old guard has caught the attention of teams in the NBA, EuroLeague, and Asia with his recent play in Australia’s National Basketball League, sources tell Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. As a member of the Perth Wildcats, Cotton is averaging a league-leading 27.8 points per game on .507/.464/.855 shooting. He has scored at least 40 points in each of his past four outings, including an NBL-record 59 on November 30 vs. the New Zealand Breakers. According to Urbonas, Perth has offered Cotton an extension that would make him the highest-paid player in NBL history, but he could test his options in free agency in February or March after the current season ends.
• With the NBA in Las Vegas this week for the semifinals and final of the NBA Cup, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes that the city already feels like part of the league and explains why it seems inevitable that Vegas will get an expansion team. Meanwhile, Joe Vardon of The Athletic takes an in-depth look at the possibility of expansion to Mexico City, examining the potential complications and outlining why it’s still probably “many years off” from becoming a potential reality, in the words of commissioner Adam Silver.
• Former NBA swingman Miye Oni has signed with Badalona for the rest of the 2024/25 season, the Spanish team announced in a press release. Oni appeared in 80 NBA regular season games for Utah from 2019-22 and was in camp this fall with the Grizzlies before being waived at the end of the preseason.

Oni, Pereira, Bacot, and Norris were all in the mix for Memphis’ open two-way contract slot after Scotty Pippen Jr. was elevated to the standard roster, but once Kawamura got the nod, hitting waivers was the likeliest outcome for all four players.

Oni, the 58th overall pick in the 2019 draft, appeared in 80 NBA games across two-and-a-half seasons with the Jazz before being traded to the Thunder, who waived him. The former Yale star signed a 10-day contract with the Pelicans in February 2022, but didn’t play a game for the team and hasn’t been in the NBA since then. He spent the 2022/23 season with the London Lions in the British Basketball League and ’23/24 with the Osceola Magic in the G League.

Pereira, a 24-year-old forward from Brazil, signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies last season and and appeared in seven games for the club, averaging 6.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest with a .514/.385/.700 shooting line. He spent most of the season with the Mexico City Capitanes in the NBAGL.

Bacot is coming off a decorated five-year college career at North Carolina, where he became the men’s basketball program’s top rebounder for both a single season (511 in 2021/22) and a career (1,715). He averaged 13.9 PPG and 10.1 RPG over the course of 169 college games for the Tar Heels and earned All-ACC honors four times, including First Team nods in 2022 and 2023.

Norris, 24, signed a two-way contract with Atlanta last summer after going undrafted out of California-Santa Barbara. He was waived in December and joined the Hawks’ G League team in College Park, where he averaged 11.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 45 games (29.2 MPG). Norris also played for Atlanta in the Las Vegas Summer League the past two years.

The Grizzlies’ G League team – the Memphis Hustle – traded for the returning rights to Oni, Pereira, and Norris during the offseason and can make Bacot an “affiliate player,” so all four players will likely end up with the Hustle. If they spend at least 60 days with Memphis’ NBAGL affiliate, they’ll earn Exhibit 10 bonuses worth $77.5K apiece.

The Grizzlies’ roster now appears set for the regular season, with 14 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.

One potential path that intrigues Paul is being part of an NBA team’s ownership group, which he acknowledges is a little ironic, given that he served as the head of the National Basketball Players Association earlier in his career.

“I definitely want to be part of an organization because being the president of the union, I am probably the only guy who knows from being a player to ownership to the business side of it and all that,” Paul said. “There is probably nobody else who has the lens and the views I have.”

NBA general managers recently voted Paul as the active player who would make the best head coach after retiring. While coaching has never been atop CP3’s list of goals, he admitted that he hasn’t ruled out the idea.

“I was talking to my wife today because I have always said I would never coach,” he said. “But just thinking about it, I don’t know. Trying to figure it out. My wife and friends are always telling me I have so much knowledge and love for the game that I could coach. But I also think about being a dad because I have missed so much of my kids’ lives. So, yeah, I don’t know.”

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

• Although fifth-year guard Malachi Flynn joined the Spurs hoping to earn a spot on the team’s regular season roster, he knows his non-guaranteed contract makes him more likely to be cut before opening night. In that scenario, he may end up playing for the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate, which is a scenario he’s open to, as Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio-Express News (subscription required) details. “There’s a history of what (the Spurs) have been able to do with people, if they do end up going to the G League, they have a good success rate at that,” Flynn said. “It felt like a good spot for me.”
• Scotty Pippen Jr.‘s new four-year standard contract with the Grizzlies is worth his minimum in all four seasons, for a total of $9,608,931, Hoops Rumors has learned. Memphis used a portion of its mid-level exception to complete the signing and gave Pippen two guaranteed seasons, with a $350K partial guarantee in year three. The deal includes a fourth-year team option that would be partially guaranteed for just under $397K if it’s exercised.
• With Pippen elevated to the standard roster, the Grizzlies have a two-way slot open ahead of the season. Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal considers the candidates for that spot, speculating that Yuki Kawamura is the frontrunner, with Maozinha Pereira representing his top competition and Armando Bacot and Miye Oni representing longer shots. While those four players are all on Exhibit 10 contracts that could be converted to two-way deals, Memphis could also look outside the organization to fill that two-way opening.
• Head coach Willie Green‘s ability to adapt to and maximize an unorthodox Pelicans roster will be a key factor in determining the team’s upside in 2024/25, writes Will Guillory of The Athletic.
• Green said on Friday that second-year shooting guard Jordan Hawkins will “absolutely” be part of the Pelicans‘ regular rotation this season, tweets Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Hawkins saw his minutes fluctuate during his rookie year and averaged just 7.3 MPG in 14 appearances in March and April.

However, Rockets forward Jabari Smith – the third overall pick in 2022 – struggled in his first professional season, and while he improved his shooting percentages in year two, he hasn’t yet shown the kind of All-NBA potential that Banchero and Holmgren have displayed.

As Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle writes in a subscriber-only story, Smith just turned 21 in May and has intriguing tools to go along with a strong work ethic, seemingly making him a strong candidate for a breakout season in 2024/25.

Still, as Feigen acknowledges, the Rockets will want to make sure players like Alperen Sengun, Jalen Green, Fred VanVleet, and Amen Thompson have the ball in their hands frequently, which may not leave a ton of opportunities for Smith to create his own scoring chances. He’ll still be relied upon largely as an off-ball floor spacer on offense, Feigen adds, so while a third-year leap is a possibility, it might be more realistic to expect continued steady growth from the former No. 3 overall pick.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

• Herbert Jones admitted it was a great feeling to make the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team last season, but the Pelicans forward doesn’t want to get complacent after earning that honor for the first time in 2023/24, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com (subscription required). “It felt amazing,” Jones said. “At the same time, you are always trying to reach for more. After I saw the news, my initial thought was, ‘You have to do it again.'”
• Will any of the Grizzlies players currently on Exhibit 10 contracts – Miye Oni, Yuki Kawamura, Maozinha Pereira, and Armando Bacot – stick with the team into the regular season? Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal explores that question, suggesting that the team’s relative lack of depth in the frontcourt could make Bacot the best bet to make the 18-man roster. If the Grizzlies were to promote a two-way player like Scotty Pippen Jr. to the standard roster, it could open up a two-way slot for a camp invitee such as Bacot, Cole notes.
• In a separate story for The Commercial Appeal, Cole spoke to Purdue assistant coach Brandon Brantley about what to expect from former Boilermakers star Zach Edey, whom the Grizzlies selected with the ninth overall pick in this year’s draft. While there are questions about how some aspects of Edey’s game will translate to the NBA, the big man’s rebounding definitely won’t be an issue at the next level, according to Brantley. “Memphis is going to have a dude in that paint that’s going to hold that paint down,” Brantley said. “Usually guys that size will try to rebound their area. He rebounds outside of his area. It means something to him.”

Oni, the 58th overall pick in the 2019 draft, appeared in 80 NBA games across two-and-a-half seasons with the Jazz before being traded to the Thunder, who waived him. The former Yale star signed a 10-day contract with the Pelicans in February 2022, but didn’t play a game for the team and hasn’t been in the NBA since then. He spent the 2022/23 season with the London Lions in the British Basketball League and ’23/24 with the Osceola Magic in the G League.

Kawamura, a 5’8″ guard whose agreement with the Grizzlies was reported earlier in the offseason, has spent the past five seasons playing in the B.League in Japan. The 23-year-old earned MVP honors in 2023 and averaged 20.9 points, 8.0 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game last season for the Yokohama B-Corsairs. He also played for Japan at this summer’s Olympics, pouring in 29 points in a near-upset of France in pool play.

Pereira, a 24-year-old from Brazil, signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies last season and and appeared in seven games for the club, averaging 6.9 PPG and 5.3 RPG with a .514/.385/.700 shooting line. He spent most of the season with the Mexico City Capitanes in the NBAGL.

Bacot is coming off a decorated five-year college career at North Carolina, where he became the men’s basketball program’s top rebounder for both a single season (511 in 2021/22) and a career (1,715). He averaged 13.9 PPG and 10.1 RPG over the course of 169 college games for the Tar Heels and earned All-ACC honors four times, including First Team nods in 2022 and 2023.

The Grizzlies’ offseason roster is now full, with 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts, three on two-way deals, and the four newcomers reportedly on Exhibit 10 pacts.

While one or more of Oni, Kawamura, Pereira, and Bacot could have their contracts converted to two-ways before the regular season begins, they’re more likely to be waived and then to report to the Memphis Hustle. Their Exhibit 10 deals will make them eligible to earn bonuses worth up to $77.5K if they spend at least 60 days with the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.

After going undrafted out of Bowling Green in 2022, Plowden spent his first professional season playing for New Orleans’ G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron. In 42 total regular season and Showcase Cup games with the Squadron, he averaged 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 22.0 minutes per night, posting a shooting line of .415/.333/.755.

The Osceola Magic – Orlando’s NBAGL team – acquired Plowden’s returning rights from the Squadron last month.

Based on that trade and today’s announcement, it sounds like the 25-year-old signed an Exhibit 10 contract and will be waived before the regular season begins. He’d then be in line to receive an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $75K – in addition to his base G League salary – if he spends at least 60 days with Osceola.

That’s also believed to be the plan for Oni, who spent less than a week on Orlando’s roster after signing last Friday.

AUGUST 22: The Magic have reached an agreement on a one-year contract with free agent wing Miye Oni, reports Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).

According to Beede, it will be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 agreement. A contract with Exhibit 10 language can be converted to a two-way deal or can put a player in line for a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived in the preseason and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate.

A former Yale standout who was drafted 58th overall in 2019, Oni appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons from 2019-22, but never developed into a consistent, reliable NBA rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.

Oni, 26, was traded in January 2022 from the Jazz to the Thunder, who subsequently waived him. He signed a 10-day hardship contract with New Orleans later that season, but didn’t appear in a game for the Pelicans.

After reaching free agency last summer, Oni signed with the London Lions of the British Basketball League and had a strong season in England, helping the Lions claim a BBL championship and a spot in the EuroCup playoffs.

Marc Stein first reported (via Twitter) that Oni and the Lions had an agreement in place, noting that the 25-year-old wing will become the third NBA veteran on London’s roster. Forward Sam Dekker and center Kosta Koufos also currently play for the Lions.

A former Yale standout who was drafted 58th overall in 2019, Oni appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons from 2019-22, but never developed into a consistent, reliable rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.

Oni was traded this past January from the Jazz to the Thunder, who subsequently waived him. He signed a 10-day hardship contract with New Orleans in February, but didn’t appear in a game for the Pelicans and has been a free agent since then.

Oni’s new team competes in the British Basketball League and the EuroCup. The Lions currently have a 7-2 record in BBL play, putting them atop the league. They’re off to a slower start in EuroCup play, having lost three of their first four games.

SEPTEMBER 17: Isaiah Thomas was among several free agents who worked out recently for the Lakers, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The 33-year-old guard is looking for his next team after finishing last season with the Hornets.

If Thomas earns a roster spot, it would mark his third stint with the organization. He signed a 10-day contract with L.A. under the hardship provision last December, appearing in four games and averaging 9.3 PPG in 25.3 minutes per night. Thomas also played 17 games with the Lakers during the 2017/18 season.

A report in July indicated that the Hornets still had some interest in bringing back Thomas, who signed a rest-of-the-season contract after joining the team on a pair of 10-day deals in March. Charlotte currently has two openings on its offseason roster.

Armoni Brooks, Sharife Cooper and Mychal Mulder took part in the workout as well, according to Scotto. He also identifies Shabazz Muhammad, Jeremy Lamb, Dwayne Bacon and Miye Oni as participants (Twitter link).

L.A. currently has one opening on its 20-man roster, but it’s a long shot for any of these players to be with the team once the season begins. Luxury tax penalties would cost the Lakers about $7MM to fill their final roster spot, so they will likely operate with 14 players for most of the season. Friday’s signing of Dennis Schröder gives them 12 fully guaranteed contracts, while Austin Reaves and Wenyen Gabriel are on non-guaranteed deals.

According to Charania and Slater, some of the free agents taking part in the workouts are Ben McLemore, Elfrid Payton, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Kenneth Faried, Miye Oni, Ty-Shon Alexander, Wesley Saunders, and Jon Axel Gudmundsson.

Golden State also held similar free agent workouts in August, according to Charania and Slater, who say that Shabazz Muhammad, Solomon Hill, Tyler Cook, and Kelan Martin were among the players who participated in those sessions about two weeks ago.

The purpose of this week’s workouts is twofold — as Tim Kawakami of The Athletic tweets, the players currently on the Warriors’ roster are beginning their informal pre-camp work at the team’s facility this week, so the free agents who join them will help ensure there are enough bodies to play 5-on-5 scrimmages. Additionally, there’s an expectation that the Warriors could sign one or more of the auditioning veterans to their 20-man training camp roster, per Charania and Slater.

Golden State currently has 18 players under contract (13 on guaranteed standard deals), with Jerome Robinson expected to be the 19th. That leaves one spot available for now.

Andre Iguodala has yet to decide whether he’ll retire or return to the Warriors for another season, so it’s possible he could fill that 20th and final roster spot (and become the 14th man on the team’s projected regular season roster). Robinson, Mac McClung, Pat Spencer, and Trevion Williams are among the camp invitees who could compete for a place on the 15-man regular season roster, especially if Iguodala doesn’t return.

Charania and Slater also note that that, while Lester Quinones and Quinndary Weatherspoon are currently on two-way deals, those roster spots are flexible. According to The Athletic’s duo, the Warriors are high on Weatherspoon, who is a candidate to join the 15-man roster either this fall or later in the season

The Pelicans currently have three players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, per our tracker, making the signings possible. New Orleans subsequently announced (via Twitter) that Cheatham has been assigned to the Birmingham Squadron, the team’s G League affiliate.

Cheatham, who went undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, spent his rookie season on a two-way contract with the Pelicans. However, he appeared in just four NBA games for the club and was sent to Oklahoma City in a sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes during the 2020 offseason.

He spent most of this season in the G League, splitting time with the Salt Lake City Stars and the Birmingham Squadron. Through 12 GL games (31.1 MPG), he averaged 15.3 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.3 SPG and 1.2 BPG on .571/.364/.733 shooting.

That performance earned Cheatham a 10-day contract with Miami just before Christmas, but he didn’t play at all for the Heat and entered the COVID-19 protocols before his deal expired. He has since cleared the protocols. A couple weeks later, he signed a 10-day hardship deal with Utah, appearing in one game for five minutes. His contract with Utah expired January 21.

Oni, 24, appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons, but never developed into a consistent, reliable rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.

Utah sent Oni to Oklahoma City last month in order to reduce their projected end-of-season luxury tax payment. The Thunder were incentivized to make the deal because they got a future second-round pick out of it, but Oni wasn’t part of their on-court plans, so they ended up waiving him. After he cleared waivers, he became an unrestricted free agent.

Due to the deals coming via a hardship exception, they won’t count towards the Pelicans’ team salary for salary cap or luxury tax purposes.

Oni, 24, appeared in 80 games for the Jazz across three seasons, but never developed into a consistent, reliable rotation player. He averaged just 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 8.4 minutes per contest in those three years.

Utah sent Oni to Oklahoma City earlier this week in order to reduce their projected end-of-season luxury tax payment. The Thunder were incentivized to make the deal because they got a future second-round pick out of it, but Oni wasn’t part of their on-court plans.

Assuming Oni goes unclaimed on waivers, the Thunder will carry a dead-money cap hit of $850,331 for a prorated portion of his minimum salary. The 24-year-old would be eligible to sign as a free agent with any NBA team except the Jazz, who wouldn’t be able to immediately re-add him after trading him to OKC.

When the Jazz sent Derrick Favors to the Thunder in an offseason deal, Utah included a top-10 protected 2024 first-round pick. If that pick falls in its protected range, the Jazz would instead owe the Thunder their top-10 protected first-round pick pick in 2025. If it still hasn’t changed hands by that point, it would become a top-eight protected 2026 first-rounder.

The conditions of the Favors trade called for the Thunder to get Utah’s 2028 second-round pick if that first-rounder fell in its protected range all three years. Now, Oklahoma City will receive the pick unconditionally. If the Jazz’s 2024 first-rounder isn’t conveyed after 2026, the Thunder will instead receive $890K in cash, according to Marks.

Here’s more on the Jazz/Thunder swap:

• The Thunder sent $1MM in cash to Utah as part of the trade, according to Marks. So not only did the Jazz avoid having Oni’s dead money increase their year-end tax bill — they also received more than enough cash to cover the prorated salary they’d already paid him this season.
• The Thunder, who had to waive Gabriel Deck to make room on their roster for Oni, will carry a cap hit of $1,690,507 in dead money for Deck. His $3,676,852 salary wasn’t guaranteed, but Oklahoma City paid him a portion of that figure prorated across 80 days.
• Sarah Todd of The Deseret News considers how trading away Oni and creating another opening on the roster could affect the Jazz’s plans on the trade market in the coming weeks.

3:03pm: The Jazz are finalizing an agreement with the Thunder on a trade that will send swingman Miye Oni to Oklahoma City, according to Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Thunder will also receive Utah’s 2028 second-round pick in the deal, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Oni doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary for the 2021/22 season, so he can be waived by Friday without his entire $1,782,621 cap hit applying to team salary. Presumably, the Jazz planned to part ways with Oni before Friday’s salary guarantee deadline and will trade him instead of cutting him so that his cap hit won’t apply to team salary at all for cap or tax purposes.

If Utah had released him, Oni would’ve counted against the cap for a prorated portion of his minimum salary — that amount (about $820K as of Monday) would’ve further increased the team’s end-of-season tax penalty. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Jazz’s projected tax bill would’ve been about $2.4MM higher if Oni had been waived rather than traded.

Instead, the Thunder will be the ones releasing Oni, according to Wojnarowski. They’re well below the salary floor despite technically operating over the cap, so adding a little dead money to their cap is well worth it to acquire a future second-round pick.

With no players headed from Oklahoma City to Utah in the swap, the Jazz will open up a second spot on their 15-man roster, which they’ll have to fill within the next two weeks.

The Thunder will have to waive someone in order to make room on the roster for Oni, even though they don’t plan to keep him. Gabriel Deck, who has a partially guaranteed salary, will be the odd man out in OKC, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Once they officially release Deck and then acquire and waive Oni, the Thunder will have an opening on their 15-man roster too.

Since Oni is in the final season of a three-year contract, he can’t be acquired using the minimum salary exception, so the Thunder will have to use a traded player exception to absorb his salary. They have two sizeable TPEs expiring next month that would work.

The Jazz will create a small traded player exception worth a prorated portion of Oni’s salary in the deal.

Here’s the 12-man squad that will represent Nigeria at the Tokyo games, per the Nigeria Basketball Federation (Twitter link):

• Precious Achiuwa (Heat)
• Caleb Agada
• Obi Emegano
• Chimezie Metu (Kings)
• Ike Nwamu
• Jordan Nwora (Bucks)
• Jahlil Okafor (Pistons)
• Josh Okogie (Timberwolves)
• KZ Okpala (Heat)
• Miye Oni (Jazz)
• Ekpe Udoh
• Gabe Vincent (Heat)

Achiuwa, Nwora, Okafor, Okogie, and Okpala are all on guaranteed contracts for next season with their respective teams. Metu and Oni are on non-guaranteed deals, while Vincent will be eligible for restricted free agency after finishing the season on a two-way pact. Udoh, a former sixth overall pick who just finalized a two-year deal with Italian club Virtus Bologna, has appeared in a total of 400 NBA games (regular season and postseason)

While the Nigerian squad isn’t exactly loaded with star power, it’s worth highlighting since it’s rare for any country besides Team USA to send so many current NBA players to the Olympics.

Australia’s team will have seven players who finished the season on NBA rosters, while Spain’s roster features 10 players with at least some NBA experience. But the U.S. team is the only other one in Tokyo that will feature at least eight current NBAers.