- Daniel Gafford‘s three-year extension shows the value the Wizards place on their young center, observes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The team also has Thomas Bryant, the starting center before being injured last year, along with Montrezl Harrell, who was acquired in an offseason trade, but management decided to make a long-term commitment to Gafford, who is now the team’s only player signed through the 2025/26 season.
- Wizards forward Rui Hachimura has cleared the league’s health and safety protocols and has returned to the team, Hughes tweets. However, he won’t travel with his teammates to Toronto for Wednesday’s season opener, according to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Hachimura will remain in Washington and will continue individual workouts with assistant coaches.
10:40am: The Wizards have officially announced Gafford’s extension, confirming the move in a press release.
“We’re very excited to extend Daniel’s contract and continue to see him develop within our system after his athleticism on both ends of the floor made such an immediate impact for us last season,” GM Tommy Sheppard said in a statement. “We are confident that he has the character and drive to keep working hard to improve his overall game and become an even bigger part of what we are building with our team.”
5:49am: The Wizards and big man Daniel Gafford agreed to a three-year contract extension late on Monday night, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that Gafford’s new contract will be worth $40.2MM.
Gafford, the 38th overall pick in the 2019 draft, spent the first year-and-a-half of his NBA career with the Bulls and played a modest role for the club, averaging 5.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 74 contests (13.4 MPG). He was sent to the Wizards in a three-team deal at the 2021 trade deadline.
In D.C., Gafford enjoyed a mini-breakout in 23 games down the stretch, putting up 10.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 1.8 BPG in just 17.7 minutes per contest. Although the Wizards acquired Montrezl Harrell in the offseason and will be getting Thomas Bryant back from his ACL tear this winter, the team envisions the athletic Gafford playing a key rotation role at the five.
Gafford’s minimum-salary contract pays him approximately $1.78MM this season and includes a $1.93MM team option for the 2022/23 season. According to Charania (Twitter link), the new deal will run through the ’25/26 season, which suggests Gafford’s option for next season is being exercised as part of the agreement, with the new deal going into effect in ’23/24.
Monday was the last day for extension-eligible players with multiple years left on their current deals to sign new contracts. Since Gafford’s option is being picked up, he fits that bill, which is why he and the Wizards had to beat the clock late last night. If they hadn’t finalized an extension on Monday, Gafford wouldn’t have been eligible to sign a new contract until the 2022 offseason.
A player signing a veteran contract extension is typically eligible to receive up to a 20% raise on the salary in the final year of his current contract. However, someone like Gafford, who is earning a smaller salary, can sign an extension that starts at up to 20% of the NBA’s “estimated average salary” in the year which the extension is signed. This year’s estimated average salary is $10.335MM, so a 20% bump to that figure would get Gafford a starting salary of about $12.4MM and a three-year total in excess of $40MM, assuming 8% annual raises.
Now that all 30 regular season rosters have been set, 10 teams project to be taxpayers, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Jazz, Sixers, Celtics, Trail Blazers, and Raptors are currently over the luxury tax threshold.
Some of those teams are in better shape than others. While the Warriors ($159.9MM) and Nets ($110.4MM) project to have nine-figure tax bills, the Raptors are barely into tax territory and should be able to sneak below the line, perhaps by waiving one of their two players who have partially guaranteed deals.
Besides Golden State and Brooklyn, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Jazz all have projected tax bills exceeding $33MM, according to Marks. The Sixers, Celtics, Blazers, and Raptors would owe less than $8MM each based on the current numbers.
Of course, these numbers can and will change over the course of the season as teams make roster moves, since tax bills are determined by the team’s year-end salary. For now though, the 20 non-taxpayers project to receive year-end payments of $12.7MM, Marks notes.
Here are a few more cap- and contract-related notes from around the NBA:
- Grayson Allen‘s two-year extension with the Bucks features a base value of $17MM ($8.5MM per year) in guaranteed money, plus incentives, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The exact value of the incentives is $1.275MM annually, Hoops Rumors has learned. Currently, those are a mix of likely and unlikely bonuses, but since the deal doesn’t begin until 2022/23, those likely/unlikely designations will ultimately be based on what happens this coming season.
- Wendell Carter Jr.‘s four-year extension with the Magic has a descending structure, Scotto tweets. It starts at $14.15MM in year one and dips to $10.85MM by year four. The deal is fully guaranteed, with no options.
- In addition to having a team option on its fourth year, Landry Shamet‘s extension with the Suns has a non-guaranteed salary in year three, Hoops Rumors has learned. The last two years both have June 29 trigger dates, in 2024 and 2025. Only $19.75MM of Shamet’s $42.5MM deal is fully guaranteed for now.
- Daniel Gafford‘s three-year extension with the Wizards doesn’t include any options or incentives, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.
The Wizards have claimed two-way player Joel Ayayi off waivers from the Lakers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Ayayi was one of four players released by Los Angeles on Friday.
Ayayi, a 6’5″ guard, went unselected in the NBA draft this past summer. The 21-year-old spent three seasons at Gonzaga before declaring for the draft, holding per-game averages of 12 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists during his junior year.
The move brings Washington’s roster to 17 players ahead of the campaign. Ayayi will be the team’s second two-way player, joining Cassius Winston.
The Wizards open the season with a road contest against the Raptors on Wednesday. Washington is coming off an offseason in which it retooled its roster, adding Spencer Dinwiddie, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, among others.
The Wizards have picked up their 2022/23 rookie scale contract options on forwards Rui Hachimura and Deni Avdija, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link).
Selected with consecutive ninth overall picks in the 2019 and 2020 drafts, respectively, Hachimura and Avdija are among the intriguing lottery picks with which Washington hopes to construct its supportive core around All-Star Bradley Beal and $54MM point guard Spencer Dinwiddie.
A 2019/20 All-Rookie Second Teamer, Hachimura holds averages of 13.7 PPG and 5.8 RPG across two years of NBA action. Avdija averaged 6.3 PPG and 4.9 RPG during his 2020/21 rookie season.
Hachimura, currently entering his third season in the NBA, will be eligible for a contract extension in 2022, while Avdija would be extension-eligible in 2023 if the Wizards exercise his 2023/24 team option next year.
Nearly every NBA team currently has a roster in compliance with regular season limits — no more than 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
[RELATED: 2021/22 NBA Roster Counts]
However, there are still a couple teams that will need to make at least one cut before Monday’s regular season roster deadline: Charlotte and San Antonio.
The Hornets are carrying 18 players — a pair on two-way contracts, plus 16 on fully guaranteed deals. One of those 16 will have to be traded or released, and while Charlotte could surprise us, Wesley Iwundu looks like the most obvious odd man out. He was included in the summer Devonte’ Graham sign-and-trade deal for salary/cap purposes, and played limited minutes for the Hornets during the preseason.
The Spurs only have 17 players, but just one is on a two-way deal, leaving 16 on guaranteed contracts. Like the Hornets, they’ll have to trade or cut one of those players by Monday. Al-Farouq Aminu is San Antonio’s equivalent of Iwundu, having been acquired in an offseason sign-and-trade (of DeMar DeRozan) for salary-matching purposes. However, his $10MM+ expiring salary could make him a useful midseason trade chip, so the Spurs may be a little more reluctant to waive him now.
Jock Landale, Keita Bates-Diop, and Drew Eubanks are other possibilities, but the Spurs just gave Landale and Bates-Diop guaranteed money earlier this offseason, and Eubanks has taken on a slightly bigger role in each of his three years in San Antonio. Aminu still appears to be the most likely release candidate, but we’ll see today or tomorrow what the Spurs have in mind.
As we explained on Saturday, while most teams completed their roster moves early, the Hornets and Spurs can afford to take an extra day or two to consider their options without any financial ramifications, since they won’t be cutting a player who has a fully non-guaranteed contract.
While Charlotte and San Antonio are the only teams that have to make moves today or tomorrow, we’ll likely see a little more roster shuffling before Monday’s deadline. Players who have been waived by one team might appeal to another club that has an open roster spot or an expendable 15th man. And some teams carrying 15 players may decide to make one more cut to get down to 14.
Additionally, seven teams still have one open two-way contract slot and may look to fill those openings before the season begins. Those clubs are the Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Magic, Suns, Spurs, and Wizards, as our tracker shows.
The Wizards have released Jaime Echenique, Jordan Goodwin and Devontae Shuler, the club announced on social media today (Twitter link).
Washington now has 15 players on standard deals and two players on two-way contracts, trimming its roster to 17 players ahead of the regular season.
The team re-tooled during the offseason, adding Spencer Dinwiddie, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and others. It opens the season in a road contest against Toronto on Wednesday night.
Echenique, Goodwin and Shuler all signed Exhibit 10 contracts, making them strong candidates to play with the team’s G League affiliate this season.
Although Ben Simmons has reported to the Sixers and head coach Doc Rivers has said he assumes the three-time All-Star plans to suit up and play for the team, we still don’t know when that will happen or what version of Simmons the club will get, writes Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.
One source who spoke to Neubeck described Simmons as “going through the motions” during his individual workouts this week, though that source said things have improved each day since the 25-year-old’s return. The expectation is that Simmons will clear the health and safety protocols soon, but he’s considered “doubtful” to play in Friday’s preseason finale.
Within Neubeck’s report, he notes that the Sixers have shown little interest in a Pacers trade package that includes Malcolm Brogdon and/or Caris LeVert. The 76ers have been focused on acquiring a star, since trading Simmons for multiple “good” players isn’t something they believe will improve their title odds or increase their chances of acquiring another impact player down the road, Neubeck explains.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Wizards forward Rui Hachimura remains in the health and safety protocols after recently reporting to the team, and he may miss some time at the beginning of the regular season as he gets back up to speed and adjusts to a new playbook and coaching staff, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I don’t think (him catching up) is way down the line,” head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We already have some edits that we’ll send to him. Obviously, when he’s ready we’ll spend some time away from the court to try to help him get back up to speed. That in itself is going to take some time.”
- Nets forward Kevin Durant admitted to reporters on Thursday that Kyrie Irving‘s absence is not an “ideal” situation and said he’d rather be playing alongside his friend this season. However, Durant added that he’s confident “things will work out the best for both parties” and said he’s not upset about the situation. “What is being mad going to do?” Durant said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “We are not going to change his mind, know what I’m saying? We’ll let him figure out what he needs to do and the team figure out what they need to do.”
- Nets head coach Steve Nash plans to lean on the team’s depth to replace Kyrie Irving, rather than putting that responsibility on one player, writes Greg Joyce of The New York Post. Bruce Brown and Patty Mills are among the obvious candidates for increased roles.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic liked the Hawks‘ offseason moves and is optimistic about the club’s chances of avoiding regression in 2021/22, projecting them to win 50 games and a playoff series. Predictably, Hollinger is far less bullish on the Magic, forecasting a 21-win season and a last-place finish in the East for Orlando.
The Wizards have signed rookie guard Devontae Shuler to a training camp contract, according to RealGM’s transactions log. The team’s official site confirms that Shuler is currently on the roster.
Shuler spent all four of his college seasons at Ole Miss, averaging 15.3 PPG, 3.3 APG, and 3.0 RPG on .409/.340/.766 in 27 games (32.8 MPG) as a senior in 2020/21. He went undrafted in July and played for Dallas in the Las Vegas Summer League.
The Wizards brought in Shuler as part of a pre-draft workout in July and apparently liked what they saw. Although he’ll probably be waived in the coming days, the 23-year-old’s camp deal suggests he’s a good bet to land with the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate.
The Wizards currently have 19 players under contract, including 14 on guaranteed deals and one on a two-way pact.
The Wizards removed a pair of players from their preseason roster, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve waived Jay Huff and Jordan Schakel.
A 7’1″ forward/center, Huff spent his college career at Virginia and was a full-time starter for the first time as a senior in 2020/21. He averaged 13.0 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 2.6 BPG with a stellar .585/.387/.837 shooting line in 25 games (27.0 MPG). Huff, who won a national title in 2019, made the All-ACC Second Team and the ACC All-Defensive Team in 2021.
The 6’6″ Schakel averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.0 APG, and 1.0 SPG on .473/.461/.908 shooting in his final college season at San Diego State in ’20/21. The 23-year-old was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team and to the Mountain West All-Tournament Team.
Both players had signed Exhibit 10 contracts with Washington as undrafted free agents and now appear on track to join the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards’ G League affiliate.