- The Kings surprised a lot of people when they drafted a guard, Davion Mitchell, in the lottery for the second straight year, but Mitchell is already making an impression with his ball-hawking defense, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee tweets. Swingman Buddy Hield has high praise for the rookie. “I think he’s the best on-ball defender in the league,” he said. “The way he hawks the ball is different. His lateral movement. The way he closes out is different. It’s just a special gift he has.”
The NBA’s rookie scale, which determines the salaries first-round picks earn during their first four seasons, also dictates how much the qualifying offers will be worth for those players when they reach restricted free agency after year four. However, the value of those qualifying offers can fluctuate depending on whether or not a player has met the “starter criteria.”
Here’s how the starter criteria works in a typical year:
- A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency.
- A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. For instance, if a player started 50 games one year and 32 the next, he’d meet the starter criteria, since his average number of starts over the last two seasons is 41.
The first method of meeting the starter criteria will remain unchanged this season, but that second method will look a little different due to the truncated nature of the 2020/21 season.
For starter criteria purposes, the number of starts and minutes a player logged last season will be prorated upward by 82/72 to account for the 72-game schedule, Hoops Rumors has learned.
For example, Suns center Deandre Ayton started 69 games last season. Typically, Ayton would require 13 more starts this season to meet the starter criteria, since 82 total starts would get him to the required average of 41 over the last two seasons.
However, Ayton’s 69 starts last season came in just 72 regular season games. Prorated across a typical 82-game schedule, he would’ve made 78 starts. That means he’ll only need four starts this season to meet the starter criteria. In other words, he should get there next Wednesday, barring an injury.
Hornets forward Miles Bridges, meanwhile, only started 19 games last season, but he played 1,932 total minutes in Charlotte’s 72 games. That works out to 2,200 minutes when prorated across an 82-game schedule, meaning he’d require just 1,800 more this season in order to meet the starter criteria. Since he’s part of the Hornets’ starting five now, Bridges could also meet the criteria by simply getting to 41 starts in 2021/22.
A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria can affect the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:
- A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
- For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.
In most cases, a qualifying offer is a mere placeholder that allows a team to retain its right of first refusal on a restricted free agent — very few players actually accept the one-year offer. Still, a player who fails to meet the starter criteria could have his free agency reshaped by an adjusted qualifying offer.
For instance, Kings big man Marvin Bagley III would be in line for a qualifying offer worth $14,762,309 if he meets the starter criteria or just $7,228,448 if he doesn’t.
Bagley would need to start 35 games this season in order to meet the starter criteria, which might be a long shot, given that he’s out of the rotation for now. Still, a $7.2MM qualifying offer could be more palatable to the Kings – or whichever team has him on its roster by the end of the 2021/22 season – than a $14.8MM one would be. Somewhat paradoxically, Bagley may have a better chance of actually receiving his QO if he starts fewer games this season.
Collin Sexton (Cavaliers), Lonnie Walker (Spurs), Donte DiVincenzo (Bucks), and Josh Okogie (Timberwolves) are some of the other top candidates to meet the starter criteria this season. We’ll be keeping an eye on them and the rest of 2022’s RFAs-to-be over the next several months.
When the Kings decided to remove Marvin Bagley III from their rotation to open the season, agent Jeff Schwartz took the unusual step of issuing a statement to call out the team for its handling of his client. However, head coach Luke Walton doesn’t expect the public nature of the dispute between the team and agent to be a distraction for his players.
“Nope, not with our group,” Walton said, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “We’ve got a tight group. We’ve talked about it, whether it’s trades from last year or anything else, we don’t concern ourselves with outside issues. We’re a tight group. You can ask any of the players. They believe in what we’re doing and they’re working hard and we’re in a good place.”
The Kings used just nine players in their opening-night win over Portland on Wednesday, with Richaun Holmes and Tristan Thompson sharing the minutes at center, while Harrison Barnes and Maurice Harkless handled power forward duties.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Fourth-year center Deandre Ayton admitted he was “obviously” disappointed not to reach a rookie scale extension agreement with the Suns by Monday’s deadline, but said on Wednesday that playing on an expiring contract won’t bother him, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays. “I’m still trying to get us back to the Finals. I’ve still got to represent the team and myself as well. I’m just a competitor, man,” Ayton said. “Just like to compete to the best and every time I’m in between those lines, that’s what you’re going to see out of me. Nothing else.”
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic loved the Suns‘ four-year, $90MM deal with Mikal Bridges, but was baffled by the decision not to extend Ayton. While general manager James Jones said Phoenix would have done a three- or four-year max, three high-ranking executives in other organizations told Vecenie they would’ve been willing to offer the big man a fifth year.
- Gary Payton II‘s new minimum-salary contract with the Warriors includes a $350K partial guarantee, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Payton, who was waived and re-signed within the last week, would have received a $659K partial guarantee if he had made the opening-night roster on his previous deal. By cutting him and then bringing him back, Golden State saved some money while still rewarding Payton for making the team.
- Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle explores how the Warriors are adjusting their approach to James Wiseman‘s development in the center’s second NBA season.
Excel Sports agent Jeff Schwartz, who represents Kings big man Marvin Bagley III, released an explosive reprimand of Sacramento (via Twitter), revealing that the team has decided to hold Bagley out of their rotation completely to start the 2021/22 season. Schwartz called the decision to keep his client out of the club’s lineup “completely baffling.”
“It’s clear they have no plans for him in the future, and yet, passed on potential deals at last year’s deadline and this summer based on ‘value,'” Schwartz said. “Instead they chose to bring him back but not play him, a move completely contradictory to their ‘value’ argument. This is a case study in mismanagement by the Kings organization.”
The relatively new Sacramento front office regime, led by second-year team president Monte McNair, is clearly not too invested in the former No. 2 overall pick out of Duke. The current club is prioritizing more switchable, smaller lineups around its exciting young backcourt, looking to build around maximum-salaried point guard De’Aaron Fox and intriguing recent lottery selections Tyrese Haliburton and Davion Mitchell.
At the power forward slot, Harrison Barnes and and Maurice Harkless are expected to soak up the majority of rotation minutes. At center, the recently-extended Richaun Holmes has emerged as the team’s apparent preference to start, while newly-added vets Tristan Thompson and Alex Len will back him up.
The 6’11” Bagley showed plenty of promise during his 2018/19 rookie season, with his output that year (14.9 PPG and 7.6 RPG in 25.3 MPG, across 62 games) meriting inclusion on the 2019 All-Rookie First Team alongside future All-Stars Luka Doncic and Trae Young. Since then, the 22-year-old’s numbers have stagnated and he has missed significant time with injury issues. Last year, he averaged 14.1 PPG and 7.4 RPG across 25.9 MPG, while missing 29 games.
Where this leaves Bagley is unclear, as the big man and his agent surely are hoping for a trade, but his value to other teams appears to be trending in the wrong direction if he has been deemed unworthy of making the opening night rotation for a probable lottery-bound team. The Kings are scheduled to make their 2021/22 regular season debut Wednesday night against the Trail Blazers.
Bagley is on an expiring contract and is eligible for restricted free agency in 2022. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), if Bagley doesn’t meet the NBA’s starter criteria, his potential qualifying offer for next season would be worth $7.3MM instead of $14.8MM.
Over the last several months, dozens of NBA players have changed teams via free agency, dozens more have entered or exited the league, and a total of 35 trades have been made. After all that offseason activity, some teams will enter the 2021/22 season looking totally different than they did in the spring, while others will look pretty similar to last season’s squads.
While roster continuity is generally perceived as a sign of stability, carrying over a significant number of players from last year’s team doesn’t necessarily give a club a leg up entering a new season.
Heading into the 2020/21 season, for instance, the Pacers, Bulls, Spurs, and Magic were among the teams with the most roster continuity, but it didn’t help them make the playoffs. The Celtics and Heat were in that group too, and both clubs underachieved. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Sixers and Bucks were among the four teams with the most roster turnover — Philadelphia claimed the No. 1 seed in the East and Milwaukee won the title.
Entering the 2021/22 campaign, the Nuggets and Kings are the two teams bringing back the most players from last year’s end-of-season rosters (including two-way players), while the Lakers are – by a wide margin – the team that experienced the most roster turnover.
The Lakers are bringing back just three players from last year’s team, while no other club retained than fewer than seven players. Perhaps the fact that so many of L.A.’s newly-added players have prior experience with the team will help ease the transition this fall — three of the players who rejoined the Lakers this offseason (Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, and Avery Bradley) were part of the team that won a title in the Orlando bubble just over a year ago.
Here’s the total number of returning players for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, from most to fewest:
- Denver Nuggets: 14
- Sacramento Kings: 13
- Atlanta Hawks: 12
Orlando Magic: 12 - Dallas Mavericks: 11
Indiana Pacers: 11
Memphis Grizzlies: 11
Miami Heat: 11
Minnesota Timberwolves: 11
Philadelphia 76ers: 11
Phoenix Suns: 11
Utah Jazz: 11 - Detroit Pistons: 10
Golden State Warriors: 10
Houston Rockets: 10
Los Angeles Clippers: 10
New York Knicks: 10
Oklahoma City Thunder: 10 - Charlotte Hornets: 9
Cleveland Cavaliers: 9
Milwaukee Bucks: 9
New Orleans Pelicans: 9
Portland Trail Blazers: 9
San Antonio Spurs: 9
Washington Wizards: 9 - Boston Celtics: 8
Toronto Raptors: 8 - Brooklyn Nets: 7 (*)
Chicago Bulls: 7
- Los Angeles Lakers: 3
* The Nets’ count includes Kyrie Irving, since he technically remains on the roster; it doesn’t include LaMarcus Aldridge, who last played for Brooklyn but didn’t finish the season with the team.
While 11 players received rookie scale extensions this offseason, many notable players didn’t reach an agreement with their respective teams prior to Monday’s deadline.
As we detailed earlier, the Suns couldn’t come to terms with the No. 1 pick of the 2018 draft, Deandre Ayton. Phoenix was unwilling to offer Ayton a full max contract, which short-circuited any hopes of an agreement.
The Suns raised the concept of a shorter maximum contract — presumably for three or four years instead of the full five years — but never formally made the offer or broached the idea again with Ayton’s reps, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst report. Ayton is unhappy with the franchise’s consistent stance that it simply doesn’t view him as a max player, the ESPN duo adds.
That adds an intriguing subplot to Phoenix’s drive to make the Finals again. Ayton will be headed toward restricted free agent next summer. Will he be motivated toward proving the front office wrong or will his unhappiness create a major distraction? Ayton could be the most attractive free agent on next year’s market and receive a giant offer sheet, which would force the Suns to decide to match it or let their franchise center walk away.
Ayton has some company among his peers. The Cavaliers and guard Collin Sexton were unable to reach an agreement and he’s headed toward restricted free agency, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Even though Sexton posted impressive offensive stats last season (24.3 PPG, 4.4 APG), his name was frequently mentioned in trade rumors this summer, a signal that the Cavs aren’t sold on the eighth pick of the 2018 draft as their long-term floor leader.
Sexton was hoping for a $100MM+, multi-year deal that aligned with his production over the first three years, Fedor reports. At one point this offseason, Sexton used De’Aaron Fox‘s five-year, $163MM extension in 2020 as a baseline. The Cavs were unwilling to go anywhere near that number and optimism waned in recent days about reaching an agreement.
The Hornets and swingman Miles Bridges also couldn’t come to terms, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets, nor could the Spurs and Lonnie Walker, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express News tweets. Bridges averaged 12.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG last season, while Walker contributed 11.2 PPG in his third year.
Donte DiVincenzo, a key member of the Bucks’ rotation last season until he suffered a torn ligament in his ankle in July, is also headed to restricted free agency. DiVincenzo averaged 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 3.1 APG last season. Some of the other notables who didn’t sign an extension or were not offered one include the Kings’ Marvin Bagley III and the Magic’s Mohamed Bamba.
The list of players who did and did not receive rookie scale extensions can be found here.
Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green had been in favor of keeping Avery Bradley on the team’s roster to open the regular season, sources tell Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. As Thompson notes, Bradley didn’t have a great preseason for Golden State, but the team’s veterans liked the fact that he has significant playoff experience.
According to Thompson, there was even a sense from some people within the organization that Bradley could be a good fit in the Warriors’ starting lineup until Klay Thompson returns, since he’d be capable of handling tougher defensive assignments that Jordan Poole may not be ready for. With Poole in the starting lineup, it might fall to Curry to defend an opponent’s top guard.
Rather than hanging onto Bradley, the Warriors appear set to open the regular season with an open 15th roster spot. However, the team could choose to fill that opening at any time.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- League sources confirm to Marc Stein of Substack (Twitter link) that no rookie scale extension is expected for Kings big man Marvin Bagley III today. That comes as no surprise, given that Bagley has been the subject of trade rumors and has been limited to 56 games over the last two seasons due to foot and hand injuries.
- The Clippers liked what they saw in camp from Harry Giles, whom Tyronn Lue referred to as “definitely an NBA player,” but they believed Isaiah Hartenstein is a better fit for their roster, writes Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. “He did a good job, he played well, kind of came in and fit in right away with his passing and being able to get guys shots and backdoor cuts for layups and things like that,” Lue said of Hartenstein, who beat out Giles for the 15th spot on the opening-night roster.
- It remains a mystery which two players will start for the Lakers alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook on opening night on Tuesday. Head coach Frank Vogel told reporters today that he has made a decision, but doesn’t want to disclose it yet (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic).
The Kings announced in a press release that they have waived Emanuel Terry. He had been signed to an Exhibit 10 deal. The Kings previously secured his G League rights in a separate transaction.
Terry, a 6’9″ power forward, played for the Kings in both Summer League and preseason. The plan is for him to join the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). If he spends at least 60 days with Stockton, Terry could earn a bonus of up to $50k.
Terry made three brief NBA appearances in 2018-19, two with Phoenix and one with Miami. He played for teams in Israel and Serbia in 2020. A veteran of 54 total G League contests, he averaged a double-double with the Agua Caliente Clippers last season.
The move leaves the Kings with a full 15-man roster, with both two way contracts filled.
The Kings are picking up the third-year team option on Tyrese Haliburton‘s rookie scale contract for the 2022/23 season, a source tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The team has confirmed the transaction in a press release.
The move is a formality, since there was never any chance Sacramento would decline a $4,215,120 option on a promising young player who was in the mix for the Rookie of the Year award last season. Haliburton is now officially locked up through 2022/23, and it’s a safe bet the Kings will pick up his ’23/24 option a year from now.
The No. 12 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Haliburton averaged 13.0 PPG, 5.3 APG, and 3.0 RPG on .472/.409/.857 shooting in 58 games (30.1 MPG) for the Kings in 2020/21. The 21-year-old will team up with De’Aaron Fox and Davion Mitchell this season to form what should be one of the most entertaining young backcourts in the NBA.
Haliburton is the only King with a third- or fourth-year rookie scale option for ’22/23, as our tracker shows.
OCTOBER 14: As expected, both players have been waived, Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets.
OCTOBER 13: The Kings have signed free agent swingman Damien Jefferson to an Exhibit 10 contract, agent Nate Daniels of One Legacy Sports tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link).
The Kings have also signed Ade Murkey, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who confirms (via Twitter) that both Jefferson and Murkey are expected to be waived on Thursday and are on track to play in Stockton this season.
An undrafted rookie, Jefferson opted to forgo an extra year of NCAA eligibility and go pro in 2021, following his senior season at Creighton. He averaged 11.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.4 APG with a shooting line of .512/.348/.605 in 31 games (30.9 MPG) for the Bluejays in 2020/21, earning All-Big East Second Team honors.
A 6’5″ guard who went undrafted out of Denver in 2020, Murkey played for the Iowa Wolves in the 2021 G League bubble.
Jefferson and Murkey, who were part of Sacramento’s Summer League roster, are unlikely to make the Kings’ regular season squad, since the team already has 14 players on guaranteed contracts, plus Chimezie Metu on a partial guarantee.
However, their Exhibit 10 deals will put Jefferson and Murkey in position to collect bonuses worth up to $50K if they end up spending at least 60 days with the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate.