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Pre-Camp Roster Snapshot: Pacific Division

September 19th, 2023 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is in the process of taking a closer look at each NBA team’s current roster situation, evaluating which clubs still have some moves to make and which ones seem most prepared for training camp to begin.

This series is meant to provide a snapshot of each team’s roster right now, so these articles won’t be updated in the coming weeks as more signings, trades, and cuts are made. You can follow our roster counts page to keep tabs on teams’ open spots as opening night nears.

We’re continuing our pre-camp Roster Snapshot series today with the Pacific Division. Let’s dive in…

Golden State Warriors

The Warriors will likely open the season with 14 players on standard contracts rather than 15 in order to maintain roster flexibility and avoid a higher tax bill. That 14th man may end up being a veteran free agent — Golden State has been working out a number of them and is meeting this week with Dwight Howard.

Until Golden State signs a 14th non-two-way player, the team won’t be able to begin signing its training camp invitees to Exhibit 9 contracts. That’s likely the reason why so many of the Dubs’ reported camp deals haven’t yet been finalized. Once they’re officially under contract, those players could be in the mix for the team’s final two-way slot.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers’ roster could still undergo a partial overhaul if talks for Sixers guard James Harden are rekindled and result in a trade agreement, but nothing seems imminent – or even close – at this point.

If they don’t make a move for Harden, the Clippers’ biggest roster decision this fall might be whether or not to keep Preston around — his salary would become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through October 1, so L.A. will probably have to make that call before the preseason begins.

If Preston is cut and no trades are made, the Clippers can focus on filling out their 21-man roster with camp invitees and figuring out who will fill the third two-way slot.

Los Angeles Lakers

Like the Warriors, the Lakers appear likely to enter the season with an open spot on their 15-man roster for the sake of flexibility. If that’s the plan, they’re pretty much good to go, with 14 players on standard contracts and all three two-way spots filled.

Phoenix Suns

The fact that the Suns are only carrying 13 players on fully guaranteed salaries means they’re in position to make changes if need be. But Goodwin’s almost certainly not going anywhere — following the trade of Cameron Payne, he’s in line for a significant role at point guard.

Penciling Goodwin onto the opening night roster gives Phoenix 14 players and means the only real decision is whether or not to hang onto Wainright, whose salary is entirely non-guaranteed. Team owner Mat Ishbia has shown no desire to pinch pennies since assuming control earlier this year, so I’d expect Wainright to be on the roster to start the season.

The Suns also have a two-way opening, but they’re the only team without a G League affiliate, so they’re not as incentivized to fill that spot as other clubs would be.

Sacramento Kings

It looked like centers Nerlens Noel and Neemias Queta might be battling for the 15th and final spot on Sacramento’s standard roster. However, after the Kings signed McGee, they waived both Noel and Queta in order to give them an opportunity to catch on with new teams for training camp (Queta has since agreed to sign with Boston).

Unlike many of their division rivals, the Kings aren’t in the tax and could comfortably afford to fill that 15th spot with a minimum-salary player if they want to. I expect that to happen eventually, but it’s unclear whether or not they’ll do it for the start of the regular season.

If there’s no rush to add a 15th man, the Kings’ preseason roster business would consist primarily of bringing in camp invitees and lining up G League bonuses.

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Kings Convert Jordan Ford To Two-Way Contract

September 15th, 2023 at 10:25am CST by Tristan Tucker

SEPTEMBER 15: Ford’s contract has officially been converted to a two-way deal, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

SEPTEMBER 14: The Kings are converting the recently signed Jordan Ford to a two-way contract from his previous Exhibit 10 deal, according to TNT and Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Ford signed his original Exhibit 10 deal with Sacramento on Tuesday.

It’s a bit surprising that Ford is having his deal converted so quickly, especially with it being reported before training camp, but as we wrote Tuesday, his G League and Summer League numbers were impressive.

Ford averaged 14.7 points and 4.6 assists in 32 games with Sacramento’s G League affiliate Stockton Kings last year and averaged 14.2 points and 5.0 assists with the Kings in Summer League this year.

After the conversion becomes official, the Kings will have three players signed to two-way deals (Ford, Keon Ellis and Jalen Slawson) and have 14 players on standard contracts. After converting Ford, the Kings will have no players signed to training camp contracts, though that figures to change in the coming weeks.

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Kings Notes: Sabonis, Ford, Stockton, Akinjo

September 14th, 2023 at 10:10pm CST by Tristan Tucker

One of the biggest storylines during the 2022/23 NBA season was the Kings ending their 16-year playoff drought. Domantas Sabonis was a major part of that, earning a spot on the All-NBA Third Team and in the All-Star Game.

However, when Sacramento took on the Warriors in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, Sabonis struggled relative to his regular season numbers. The 6’11” forward/center averaged 16.4 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 49.5% shooting in seven games in the playoffs compared to 19.1 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists on 61.5% shooting in 79 regular season games.

On a recent episode of their show, James Ham and Kyle Madson of ESPN 1320 Sacramento discussed the specific ways Sabonis can improve heading into next season (Twitter link).

The pair reason that while Sabonis’s box-score numbers will likely look similar to last season’s, he can improve on the little things, like his aggression. Ham and Madson don’t want to see Sabonis be complacent, and would like to see him take more attempts from the mid-range.

Sabonis signed a four-year extension that includes at least $184MM in new money earlier this offseason.

We have more Kings-related notes:

  • During Jordan Ford‘s stint with the Kings’ Summer League team, a high-ranking member of the organization said he felt as though the Saint Mary’s product was close to becoming an NBA-caliber player, according to The Sacramento Bee’s James Anderson. It appears Ford will get the chance to prove as much, with his Exhibit 10 deal reportedly being converted to a two-way contract. According to Anderson, Ford will compete for the third point guard spot behind De’Aaron Fox and Davion Mitchell.
  • The Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, are acquiring the rights to James Akinjo from the Westchester Knicks in exchange for Jeriah Horne and Alex O’Connell, per Anderson (Twitter link). Akinjo, a Baylor product, averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 assists in 38 G League games in the regular season and Showcase Cup. Horne and O’Connell spent a brief time with the Kings in training camp last year but spent most of the season with Stockton.
  • In case you missed it, the Kings waived Neemias Queta and Nerlens Noel on Tuesday. Sacramento made the move to give Queta and Noel an opportunity to catch on with another team before training camp. They’ll clear waivers on Friday, assuming they go unclaimed.
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Super-Max Candidates To Watch In 2023/24

September 14th, 2023 at 7:30am CST by Luke Adams

Note: This is an updated version of an article that was sent exclusively to our Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers in June. Click here for more information on Trade Rumors Front Office.

The NBA’s Designated Veteran rule, as we explain in our glossary entry on the subject, allows players to qualify for a maximum salary worth 35% of the cap before they gain the required NBA service time.

Typically, a player is ineligible to receive a maximum contract that starts at 35% of the cap until he has at least 10 years of experience, but the Designated Veteran rule gives a player with between seven and nine years of experience the opportunity to do so if he meets certain performance criteria. This has become colloquially known as signing a “super-max” deal.

The performance criteria are as follows (only one of the following must be true):

  • The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
  • The player was named the NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.

Since the NBA introduced the concept of the Designated Veteran contract in 2017, 12 players have signed them across seven offseasons. Celtics wing Jaylen Brown became the latest player to join that group this summer when he signed a five-year super-max deal that could become the NBA’s first $300MM contract.

Brown will be the only player who signs such a contract this offseason, but it’s worth taking a peek down the road to see which players are the best candidates to join the list of super-max recipients in 2024 and 2025.

We can start by penciling in another Celtic, Jayson Tatum, for 2024. Although he doesn’t yet have enough years of NBA service to sign a Designated Veteran extension, Tatum met the performance criteria in the spring by earning his second consecutive All-NBA berth.

That means that even if he doesn’t make an All-NBA team in 2024, he’ll have received an All-NBA nod in two of the previous three seasons when he meets the service time criteria next summer, making him super-max eligible. It seems likely the Celtics will offer him a Designated Veteran extension at that time.

Here are some other candidates to watch during the 2023/24 season:

2024

Because a player become ineligible for a Designated Veteran extension if he’s traded after his first four years in the NBA, prime candidates like Donovan Mitchell and Domantas Sabonis won’t be able to qualify. Still, there’s an intriguing group of candidates in play for next summer.

Ingram, Murray, and Siakam, members of the 2016 draft class, would have become super-max eligible if they had made an All-NBA team this year. They’ll get another chance in 2024.

Ingram averaged a career-best 24.7 points and 5.8 assists per night in 2022/23, but injuries limited him to just 45 games. While he’s not one of the best 15 players in the NBA, it’s not impossible to imagine the 26-year-old earning an All-NBA spot if he stays healthy and helps lead the Pelicans to a top-four seed in the West. He’s probably a long shot, but we can’t rule him out entirely.

Murray was making his way back from an ACL tear last season, which meant he was subject to load management and wasn’t necessarily at his best from day one. But his postseason performance – 26.1 points per game on .473/.396/.926 shooting en route to a championship – served as a reminder that he has All-NBA upside.

Siakam made the All-NBA Second Team in 2020 and the Third Team in 2022 and received some votes in 2023. However, he still needs one more All-NBA nod in 2024 to become eligible for a Designated Veteran deal. He’ll be a candidate to watch as long as he remains in Toronto for the 2023/24 season. A trade – which would make him ineligible – still looms as a possibility.

Adebayo and Fox are 2017 draftees with just six years of NBA experience, which means that Fox didn’t meet the Designated Veteran performance criteria by earning All-NBA honors in May — he’ll need to do it again in 2024 to qualify for a super-max deal. His performance this past year showed that he’s capable of it.

Adebayo’s path to an All-NBA berth is complicated by the fact that the All-NBA teams will become positionless beginning in 2024. That means voters won’t necessarily have to choose three centers, which may reduce his odds of making the cut.

Still, the field of All-NBA candidates may be more wide open than usual in 2024, since the league is also requiring players to appear in at least 65 games in order to be eligible for one of the 15 spots. That means a player who misses a few weeks with an injury might be out of the running. If Ingram, Murray, Siakam, Fox, and Abebayo can stay healthy and play at least 65 times, their All-NBA odds will increase.

It’s worth noting too that being named Defensive Player of the Year is another way to qualify for a super-max. Adebayo has finished in the top five in voting for that award in each of the last four seasons and is a legitimate candidate to win it at some point.

2025

Doncic, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jackson were drafted in 2018 and have just five years of NBA experience, so they’re still two years away from having the service time required for a Designated Veteran contract — none of them would be able to sign a super-max extension until 2025. However, they all have an opportunity to meet the performance criteria in 2024.

Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander made up the All-NBA First Team backcourt in 2023, so if they make an All-NBA team again next year, they’ll have done so in at least two of the three years leading up to the 2025 offseason.

As for Jackson, he missed out on All-NBA honors in 2023, but was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. It’s a tall order, but if he can win a second DPOY award in either of the next two seasons, he’ll make himself eligible to sign a super-max contract in 2025.

The rookie scale extension recipients

Ball, Edwards, and Haliburton have all signed five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extensions this offseason that project to start at 25% of the 2024/25 cap. If we assume the cap will rise by the maximum allowable 10%, those deals would be worth just shy of $217MM.

However, all three extensions include Rose Rule language. This is another form of the super-max — we can call it the “mini” super-max, paradoxical as that may sound. Unlike a player who signs a Designated Veteran contract, which starts at 35% of the cap instead of 30%, a player who meets the Rose Rule criteria can receive a starting salary worth 30% of the cap rather than 25%.

The performance criteria for a Rose Rule salary increase are essentially the exact same as for a Designated Veteran bump, but must be achieved by the end of the player’s four-year rookie contract. That means Ball, Edwards, and Haliburton would have to make the All-NBA team in 2024 in order to increase the projected value of their respective extensions to $260MM over five years — an All-NBA berth in 2025 or 2026 would be too late.

Each of these three players has an All-Star berth under his belt, so making the leap to All-NBA certainly isn’t inconceivable. Edwards may be the best bet of the three to qualify for the mini super-max, but if Ball and Haliburton can lead their teams to playoff spots, they’d certainly have a case.

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Teams Limited To Minimum Salary Contract Offers

September 13th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

There won’t be many free agents who sign for more than the veteran’s minimum between now and the end of the NBA’s regular season. The majority of the players whose markets exceeded the minimum came off the board pretty quickly in July, and teams aren’t looking to spend big on the players who are still available.

Still, that doesn’t mean every signing for the next seven months will be of the minimum-salary variety. In certain cases – especially on the buyout market in February – being able to offer a couple million dollars more than the minimum could be the difference between a team landing a free agent and missing out on him.

With that in mind, it’s worth checking in on which teams don’t currently have the ability to offer more than the minimum. By our count, about a third of the NBA is in this boat, though some of those clubs could generate some spending flexibility by making cost-cutting trades.

Here’s a breakdown of the teams currently limited to minimum-salary contract offers for free agents:

Teams above the second tax apron:

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Miami Heat
  • Phoenix Suns

Beginning this offseason, the NBA added a second tax “apron” and introduced new restrictions for the teams whose salaries exceed that apron. In 2023/24, the second apron is set at $182,794,000 ($17.5MM above the tax line) — it will increase along with the cap in future years.

In addition to being prohibited from using the standard mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception, teams whose salaries are above the second apron aren’t permitted to make use of the taxpayer mid-level exception, which is worth $5MM. The Warriors, Clippers, Heat, and Suns all fall into that group and therefore don’t have any cap exceptions available to use on free agents besides the minimum exception.

Teams very close to the second tax apron:

  • Boston Celtics
  • Milwaukee Bucks

The Celtics and Bucks may be able to start the season with team salaries below the second apron, but from a practical standpoint, it will be extremely difficult for them to make use of the taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap them at that second apron.

Milwaukee, in particular, has several contract bonuses to account for and would find its team salary well above the second tax apron if certain players earn those unlikely incentives. Boston has slightly more cap flexibility, but will still almost certainly be limited to minimum-salary offers for the rest of 2023/24, barring a cost-cutting move.

Over-the-cap teams that have used all their cap exceptions:

  • Denver Nuggets
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Toronto Raptors

The Nuggets are the only team this season to use the taxpayer mid-level exception. It’s the lone cap exception available to them in free agency, since their team salary is above the first apron, so they can’t offer more than the minimum to free agents.

The Thunder, meanwhile, used their entire room exception, while the Raptors used their non-taxpayer mid-level exception and bi-annual exception. Both teams are now over the cap and only have the minimum salary exception left to sign a free agent outright (a sign-and-trade remains possible, but is unlikely at this stage of the offseason).

Over-the-cap teams whose remaining exception money is less than the two-year veteran’s minimum:

  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Sacramento Kings

The Lakers have $1,905,000 remaining on their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while the Kings have $1,381,536 left on their room exception. Both figures fall short of the full-season minimum salary for a two-year veteran ($2,019,706), so neither club could offer more than the minimum to a veteran free agent at this time.

However, that leftover exception money isn’t useless. Los Angeles and Sacramento could each offer more than the minimum to a rookie free agent, for instance. And their remaining exception money won’t begin prorating downward until after the trade deadline. So if L.A. wants to sign a veteran free agent in December, it could use its MLE to offer more than the player’s prorated minimum salary at that point.

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Kings Waive Nerlens Noel, Neemias Queta

September 12th, 2023 at 8:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

8:12pm: The duo has officially been waived, according to a team press release.

5:02pm: The Kings are waiving centers Nerlens Noel and Neemias Queta, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

Both big men were signed by Sacramento this offseason to partially guaranteed one-year deals, but the Kings subsequently signed JaVale McGee to a guaranteed one-year deal after he cleared waivers.

The Kings want to give Noel and Queta an opportunity to hook on with another organization before training camp rather than hanging onto them and then waiving them shortly before the season begins.

Noel was signed to a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal as a free agent this summer. He received a $300K guarantee, which would have increased to $600K if he made the 15-man opening night roster.

Noel has appeared in 467 career regular season games since being drafted sixth overall in 2013 but didn’t play much in 2022/23. After being traded from New York to Detroit during the 2022 offseason, the 29-year-old appeared in 14 games for the Pistons, who bought him out at the end of February. He signed a 10-day contract with Brooklyn and played in three games for the Nets, but didn’t get a second 10-day and finished the season as a free agent.

The Kings signed Queta to a two-year, minimum-salary contract. His $2,019,706 salary for the upcoming season included a $250K guarantee, while the second season was non-guaranteed. The guarantee for the upcoming season would have doubled if he was on the opening night roster.

Queta has been on Sacramento’s roster the past two seasons, appearing in a total of 20 NBA games. The 7’0” Queta was a second-round pick in 2021 out of Utah State.

Noel and Queta were projected to fight for one roster spot as the No. 3 center behind Domantas Sabonis and Alex Len. That changed when the Mavericks waived McGee and the Kings signed him after he cleared waivers. Sacramento has 14 guaranteed contracts and could explore other options, or just leave open the 15th roster spot.

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Kings Sign Jordan Ford To Camp Deal

September 12th, 2023 at 8:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

9:11pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

8:11pm: The Kings are bringing back guard Jordan Ford on an Exhibit 10 contract, Kings radio reporter Sean Cunningham tweets.

Ford was on Sacramento’s camp roster last season but he was waived in mid-October.

Undrafted out of St. Mary’s in 2020, Ford started 32 games last season for the G League’s Stockton Kings. He averaged 14.7 points and 4.6 assists in 26.1 minutes per game. He also appeared in six Summer League games for Sacramento, averaging 14.2 points and 5.0 assists in 27.7 minutes.

If he’s waived before the season starts, Ford could earn a bonus of up to $75K if he spends at least 60 days with Stockton. The Kings could also convert his contract to a two-way deal. Sacramento has one two-way slot available, as our roster counts page shows.

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Len, McGee Likely To Make Roster

September 10th, 2023 at 8:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Alex Len and JaVale McGee are expected to make the Kings’ opening night roster and compete for backup minutes at center, James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com tweets. That doesn’t come as much of a surprise, considering they both have guaranteed contracts. That also means Neemias Queta and Nerlens Noel, who have partially guaranteed deals, will essentially be competing for the final roster spot, assuming Sacramento decides to carry 15 players.
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Pacific Notes: Paul, Labissiere, Warriors Rookies, Lakers

September 9th, 2023 at 10:54am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Warriors made one of the splashiest moves of the offseason when they acquired Chris Paul from Washington after he was sent to the Wizards by Phoenix in the Bradley Beal trade. Even though the Warriors sent out Jordan Poole in the deal, lineup questions arose for Golden State, who return 2022/23 starters Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney — that could leave CP3 as the odd man out in the starting five.

However, appearing on a recent episode of Yahoo Sports’ Vince Goodwill’s “Good Word With Goodwill” podcast (Podcast link), Andscape’s Marc J. Spears said he expects the Warriors to start Paul.

“I do expect him to start. And I think it’s like five-minute spurts,” Spears said on the podcast. “I don’t know that they really want his minutes to be high, but I think they’re gonna try it. I could be wrong, but that’s the gist I’m getting. This isn’t an opinion that he’s expected to start; it’s what I’m hearing. He’s never not started in his career.”

As Spears notes, Paul has started in all 1,214 of his NBA appearances. If that streak continues, it means one of the Warriors’ entrenched starters would have to move to the bench. Looney is a natural candidate, but the Warriors are lacking size and going that route would put them at a disadvantage in that regard, since it would make 6’6″ Green and 6’7″ Wiggins the tallest players in the lineup.

We have more notes from the Pacific Division:

  • The Kings plan to sign and then waive Skal Labissiere on the same day, meaning he won’t report to the team’s training camp The Kings Beat’s James Ham tweets. This was always the expected outcome for Labissiere, especially after the team secured his G League rights in a trade on Friday. Labissiere, 27, played for the Kings from 2016-19 after being drafted by the team with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2016 draft. He holds career averages of 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 148 NBA appearances between the Kings and the Trail Blazers.
  • Warriors rookies Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis are becoming closer throughout the offseason, recently touring several attractions in San Francisco, Shayna Rubin of The Mercury News writes. Podziemski and Jackson-Davis, who could both play rotational roles for a Warriors team seeking to contend, are becoming acclimated to the city and the franchise, according to Rubin. Rubin reports that the two were part of a players-only mini-camp hosted by Curry at the end of August, and the entire team grew closer as a result of the event.
  • Signing Christian Wood is the latest in a series of flashy Lakers moves this offseason, but Heavy’s Sean Deveney writes that rival executives believe coach Darvin Ham is going to have his hands full with developing and sticking to a rotation. “They’re deep,” the executive said, per Deveney. “They’re 12 deep. That’s great when you look at it on paper. But when happens when the ball goes up and you’re playing nine guys, and one of those guys is playing eight minutes? That gets sticky for a coach. [Ham] is as good as anyone at relating to players, but a depth chart like that can be a coach’s nightmare.” Deveney suggests that Wood wouldn’t have joined the Lakers if his role wasn’t going to be big. Los Angeles also brought in a handful of players in free agency, including Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince, while retaining Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell. Second-year player Max Christie is also in line for more playing time.
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Kings Sign, Waive Skal Labissiere

September 8th, 2023 at 9:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SEPTEMBER 8: The Kings have officially signed and waived Labissiere, per RealGM’s transaction log.

Stockton made a trade this week to acquire Labissiere’s G League returning rights, so he’ll get an Exhibit 10 bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the NBAGL club.

AUGUST 21: The Kings are signing Skal Labissiere to a one-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

The Labissiere acquisition is for the G League Stockton Kings, James Ham of The Kings Beat tweets. As Ham explains, the hope is that he’ll join the franchise on an Exhibit 10 contract after a trade with the Mexico City Capitanes (G League) is finalized.

Labissiere hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2019/20 season, when he saw action in 33 games with the Trail Blazers. Labissiere, the 28th pick of the 2016 draft, spent the bulk of his NBA career with Sacramento. He played 106 games for the Kings, including 41 starts.

In the last few years, he has spent time in the NBA G League, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

For his NBA career, he’s averaged 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game in 148 appearances.

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