The buzz around this year's NBA offseason is that the action could happen earlier than usual, so I'm just going to start my annual tracker now. This way I can list any players under contract that get traded during the draft here instead of having those in my separate post about every team's picks.
The Rockets got things started already with the first extension reached right in the middle of the Finals, so I may as well get started now! As usual, players already under contract have their figures listed based on Keith Smith's work at Spotrac.com while salaries in bold italics are my own estimates based on reported numbers and the standard 5% or 8% raises that teams could give. Salaries are also color coded if they are a player option, a team option, not fully guaranteed, or mutual option. Since this post will be constantly updated throughout the summer, I'll be adding the latest news at the top to be readily available upon revisiting this page. Or if you want to go in chronological order, start at the bottom.
6/30 Update: The NBA officially announced that this year's salary cap is set at $154,647,000 with the tax line at $187,895,000, which is right at the expected 10% growth from last year. That means the the full Mid-Level Exception can have a starting salary of $14,104,000 and can top out at 4 years, $60,647,200; the Taxpayer MLE can start at $5,685,000 and go to 2 years, $11,654,250; the Room MLE can start at $8,781,000 and go to 3 years, $27,660,150; and the Bi-Annual Exception can start at $5,134,000 and go to 2 years, $10,524,700. Notably, Marks reports that the salary cap is only projected to go up by 7% raises instead of the maximum of 10% like this year, which could throw a wrench into team's budgets.
Lillard to sign (back) with the Trail Blazers: 3 years, $42 million (Lowe, Shams with the details 7/17)
| Damian Lillard | $13,333,333 | $14,000,000 | $14,666,667 |
A reunion with Portland had been mentioned as a possibility for arguably the greatest player in franchise history, but it's pretty stunning to see him get this great of a deal considering the circumstances. I think most people expected Lillard to only take a 1+1 minimum type of deal due to the $112.6 million that he's already owed by Milwaukee, the fact that there will be some set-off relief for that money, and the little issue of the Achilles tear suffered in the playoffs that will likely lead him to miss most of if not all of next season.
Not only are the Blazers using most of/all of their MLE to give him about $27 million for pretty much one guaranteed season ('26-27) before he can opt out, but he is also getting a rare No Trade Clause on top of it. I mentioned in Beal's write up below how both of these guards from the 2012 draft are having similarly huge cap hits stretched out this offseason, and now Lillard is replacing Beal as the only player other than LeBron James. to own a NTC. There were hardly any teams under the First Apron who could offer the full MLE like this, so I'm not exactly sure who they were bidding against with this package.
Having just turned 35 this week, we'll see what Lillard can still contribute coming off of a major injury, and Portland already added another 35 year old guard this summer in Holiday...who hilariously traded for Lillard two years ago. It'll be interesting to see what happens with their young incumbent guards, Henderson and Sharpe, a year from now when theoretically everyone will be available, especially with Sharpe currently eligible for a rookie extension going into the last year of his contract.
Houstan to sign with the Hawks: 1 year deal (Scotto 7/17)
The former high school star hasn't been able to establish himself yet after a nondescript year at Michigan and falling to the top of the 2nd round, so I'm just projecting the minimum here. With three years in the league so far, he's set to earn about $2.4 million if this is a guaranteed deal, which is actually more than the $2,187,699 team option that Orlando declined.
Livingston to re-sign with the Bucks: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/16)
| Chris Livingston | $2,296,274 |
Milwaukee had to waive Livingston as part of their series of moves to sign Turner, but they didn't really have to risk him being claimed considering how he fell to the last pick of the 2023 draft and played only 196 total minutes the past two seasons. This actually works out for him since the two-year minimum is now higher than the $2,221,677 that he was set to make, and he could reach restricted free agency a year sooner without the team option that they held on his original deal.
Beal to sign with Clippers: 2 years, $11 million (Shams 7/16)
| Bradley Beal | $5,354,000 | $5,621,700 |
This has been rumored for a while, particularly since LA's Powell trade. Beal getting what's left of their MLE after using $8.75 million of it on Lopez almost makes him whole since he has to give up about $13.9 million of the $110,794,880 that Phoenix still owed him. That was the amount needed in order for them to legally be able to use the stretch provision since they already have $3.8 million in dead cap hits for Nassir Little and EJ Liddell, and a team can only have 15% of the salary cap in stretched money.
Now the Suns will likely have about $19.38 million in dead money for Beal over the next five years, similar to what the Bucks have with another 2012 draft member in Lillard. You could argue that they'd be better off just taking the bigger cap hits for these next two years (even though it means staying in the luxury tax) as long as they could slip under the Second Apron, but either way it's a lot of salary that they're eating. That will be to the benefit of their division rivals, and the Clippers made a lot of sense since Beal has talked about not wanting to uproot his family too much after moving from Washington to Phoenix. Now the 32 year old could potentially do the reverse of what Chris Paul did when he traveled back and forth to LA as a former Clipper who later became a Sun.
Beal already got a good chunk of his buyout money back and in theory could make it all up next year while still having the player option as a fallback plan. It'll be interesting to see how the rotation works out with him potentially starting next to Harden with Kris Dunn and Bogdan Bogdanovic off the bench since they seemed to find something with Dunn's defensive presence starting next to Harden. I would guess that a starting role was discussed in the recruitment process and that lineups will be staggered, but in any case, this is a good value to add another player at a position of need.
Anthony to sign with Bucks: 1 year deal (Shams 7/12)
I'm very curious about the lack of details around this situation so far on two fronts. First, it hasn't been reported yet how much Anthony gave up of his $13.1 million salary in his buyout with Memphis. As I mentioned below after the Grizzlies' Huff trade, they're about $4 million away from having the necessary cap space to give Jackson his renegotiation-and-extension at the reported number.
Second, the only details about Anthony's Milwaukee deal is that it's for one year. That's usually an indicator that the player is taking the minimum, which I put as a placeholder here for now, and that would only net him about $2.7 million as a five year veteran. They still have $3,647,000 left of the Room MLE to sign him with, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what he ends up getting and how much he gave back to Memphis since that's usually how these buyout situations go once a new team is identified.
7/14 Update: Gozlan reports that Anthony only had to give up $2 million in his buyout with Memphis, which likely means that he's only getting the minimum from Milwaukee and coming out ahead overall. It's also confirmed that the Grizzlies are stretching the remaining $11.1 million, which seemed like the last possible move with the Spencer update below. JJJ's new cap numbers are finally in now thanks to this, so I updated his section below, as well.
Jackson to re-sign with the Pacers: 3 years, $21 million (Shams 7/11)
| Isaiah Jackson | $6,481,481 | $7,000,000 | $7,518,519 |
It was somewhat surprising that Indiana extended a $6.4 million qualifying offer to make Jackson an unrestricted free agent since he missed all but five games last year due to a torn Achilles. He had not even really established himself before that tough injury to come back from, though his effectiveness in short spurts did stand out with career per 36 averages of 17.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.4 steals, 3.2 blocks, and 2 turnovers. Now they are really showing faith in him helping to fill the center spot by committee without Turner.
Jones extends with the Pelicans: 3 years, $68 million (Shams 7/10)
| Herb Jones | $13,937,574 | $14,898,786 | $20,858,300 | $22,526,964 | $24,195,628 |
This is the most that Jones could extend for with a 40% raise on the last year of his current contract and then the standard 8% increases from there. There was some talk that the defensive ace might be available in trades with New Orleans having a new front office, but they clearly weren't concerned that he was limited to just 20 games last year. Turning 27 right before the start of the season, this will cover Jones' age 29-31 seasons.
Bagley to sign (back) with the Wizards: 1 year deal (Shams 7/10)
| Marvin Bagley III | $2,296,274 |
There goes the dream of the Lakers completing the set of top picks from the 2018 draft. I'm projecting just the minimum here, and I wouldn't surprised if it's not fully guaranteed given Washington's aforementioned roster crunch. With seven years of experience, Bagley's minimum would be a little under $3.1 million if that is what this is.
Williams extends with the Thunder: 5 years, up to $287 million (Shams 7/10)
| Jalen Williams | $6,580,997 | $41,368,073 | $44,677,518 | $47,986,964 | $51,296,410 | $54,605,856 |
Like with Banchero below, I'm going with $239.9 million as the projection here since Williams needs to make All-NBA next year to bump up from a 25% max to a 30% max. However, an important note Iko is that J-Dub doesn't have a player option at the end like Banchero, which is a fair compromise to allow this upside with the deal.
I'll never get over how incredible it is that OKC was so locked in on landing Williams in the 2022 draft with their #12 pick that they traded for #11 and took Ousmane Dieng just to ensure that no one sniped them or that the trade didn't fall apart. That was even on the higher-end of most draft projections, but they knew what a versatile star he could be. That faith was rewarded with an awesome run in this year's playoffs and a championship as the team's second-best player in just his third season, and he only turned 24 at the start of the playoffs.
There's already a lot of chatter about how this roster will be affected by the Second Apron in the future, but Presti already prepared for this by having team options in the contracts for Hartenstein, Dort, and Kenrich Williams in the years that this and Holmgren's extension kick in. Depending on how many draft picks they have next year and where they land, they could simply part ways with Hartenstein and Kenny Hustle and shuffle through the role players around their stars with the younger players that they continue to draft.
McLaughlin to re-sign with the Spurs: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/9)
| Jordan McLaughlin | $2,296,274 |
As a veteran with six years of experience, McLaughlin will make $2,874,436 with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year deal. He didn't play a ton after arriving in San Antonio with De'Aaron Fox, but he's a solid third-string point guard to be a caretaker when called upon (career 4.29 to 1 assist to turnover ratio) and have in the locker room.
Booker extends with the Suns: 2 years, "$145 million" (Shams 7/9)
| Devin Booker | $53,142,264 | $57,078,728 | $61,015,192 | $70,077,515 | $75,683,716 |
I'm putting the $145 million in quotes since there is a lot of projection here since the extension won't kick in until all the way in 2028. The numbers above are based on the salary cap rising by the maximum of 10% in 2027 and 2028 even though the estimate for next summer is only for 7%. If that continues at 7% for the following two years, then this would be worth "only" about $138 million with cap hits of $66.3 and $71.6 million.
7/16 Update: Scotto reports that the second year is a player option, which means that Phoenix only secured one extra year of control with this early extension...Something tells me that Booker will likely be picking up an option of over $70 million when he'll be turning 33, though.
Holmgren extends with the Thunder: 5 years, $239 million (Shams 7/9)
| Chet Holmgren | $13,731,368 | $41,368,073 | $44,677,518 | $47,986,964 | $51,296,410 | $54,605,856 |
After initially Tweeting that it "could reach $250 million," Shams' actual article stated it as $239 million guaranteed with escalators. That is pretty notable because the figures above are Holmgren's 25% max, and "only" having the potential to reach $250 million means that OKC actually fought in negotiations so that even if he makes All-NBA or wins Defensive Player of the Year, it won't bump up to the full 30% number like Banchero below, $289 million.
The two of them were picked at the top of the 2022 draft, and the #2 pick here has unfortunately been limited just 114 games through three years, which likely contributed to these negotiations. Holmgren provides valuable two-way ability with his shot-blocking, shooting, and ball-handling at either big position when he is on the floor, so this compromise sounds like a fair deal. The #3 pick that year, Jabari Smith, hasn't hit the same heights as them, but these deals really show how much of a bargain the extension that he signed could be. Another Thunder player, Jalen Williams, will be the next max contract to look out for from that class after he was picked #12 in what was considered a surprisingly high pick at the time but has proven to be a steal.
7/14 Update: Zach Lowe alluded to it on his podcast and now Keith Smith confirmed with Spotrac that Holmgren just got a straight 25% max. Apparently the $250 million possibility that was mentioned initially was just based on if the cap rises by the maximum possible of 10% instead of the projected 7%...which still would only result in $246.6 million but whatever. Shams gave Holmgren's power agent (Duffy, again) what he wanted with that misleading report.
San Antonio picks up another big man (Shams 7/8)
Spurs receive:
Wizards receive:
2026 2nd round pick (Worst of 76ers, Mavericks, or Thunder)
With Kornet already added for defense off the bench, San Antonio now adds a more perimeter big in Olynyk, and they could end up as a second unit pairing. This is the third time that the 34 year old has been traded in the last five months, but he's the headliner instead of just matching salary this time. Olynyk's combination of shooting, passing, and size could make him a nice connective piece to a variety of lineups, especially with Wembanyama's versatility.
I used to have hope for both Branham and Wesley from the 2022 draft, but neither guard could consistently find their stride thus far. That made them expendable for the Spurs as they begin to move into the next phase of their rebuild, especially with their recent big investments at the position.
After Washington gave up a couple of their horde of 2nd rounders in the Whitmore trade, they get one back here as they continue to add former 1st rounders still on rookie contracts. It's definitely worth taking a look on these two in exchange for an older player that wasn't in their plans, and who knows, maybe they see something in camp with these two to negotiate a surprise extension. They have a very full roster, though, so other moves would be needed for both to stick around.
Conversely, San Antonio now has three open roster spots, but both teams still have plenty of room below the luxury tax. That will be especially true for Washington if they cut Richaun Holmes' $13,280,737 salary that's only guaranteed for $250,000. It could potentially be useful for trades, but they have plenty of expiring contracts and could be creating a new Trade Exception worth Olynyk's salary that's right above Holmes'. Branham and Wesley fit just about perfectly into their $9.9 million Valanciunas TE that expires in February, so using that here would create a new, larger TE that lasts longer.
7/10 Update: Keith Smith notes that Washington made a great call to actually use the BAE to take in Wesley since they won't need it next year when they're a cap space team (and you can only use the BAE every other year). That allowed them to just use the smaller Johnny Davis Trade Exception of $5.3 million for Branham that also expires in February and preserve the larger Valanciunas TE. Smart stuff.
Banchero extends with the Magic: 5 years, up to $287 million (Shams 7/7)
| Paolo Banchero | $15,334,769 | $41,368,073 | $44,677,518 | $47,986,964 | $51,296,410 | $54,605,856 |
I'm going with $239.9 million as the projection here since Banchero needs to make All-NBA next year to bump up from a 25% max to a 30% max. If the former #1 pick and Rookie of the Year does meet the criteria, his cap figures would instead be $49,641,687/$53,613,022/$57,584,357/$61,555,692/$65,527,027. It's the same situation that Franz Wagner faced with them last year, but the fact that Banchero got the last year as a player option is notable. As Shams noted in his Tweet, it's the first such case since 2021 as getting the full five years and the possibility of the 30% max is usually a concession in exchange for not being able to reach free agency after just four years.
Lowry to re-sign with the 76ers: 1 year deal (Shams 7/7)
Philadelphia has Lowry's Non-Bird Rights to give him up to 120% of his minimum, but I'm projecting it is a straight minimum contract again for the 39 year old. As a veteran with 10+ years of experience, he would still earn $3.6 million with this subsidized cap hit, and that difference could matter if the price for Grimes gets high enough in restricted free agency to push them to the Second Apron that they're less than $20 million away from now.
Wiseman to sign (back) with the Pacers: 2 years, minimum contract (Tony East 7/7)
| James Wiseman | $2,667,948 | $3,018,158 |
Wiseman unfortunately tore his Achilles in his first game with Indiana after signing with them last summer and then had to be salary dumped to Toronto at the trade deadline to ensure that they avoided the luxury tax. Hopefully he'll be healthy this time around to find his role in the league as they try to replace Turner in the aggregate with a variety of cheaper big men.
LA, Miami, and Utah combine for surprise trade (Shams 7/7)
Heat receive:
Clippers receive:
Jazz receive:
| Kyle Anderson | $9,219,512 | $9,658,536 |
2027 Clippers 2nd round pick
Powell is coming off of a career season in which he garnered some All-Star consideration, so Miami basically turning the expiring contracts of Anderson and Love into him is quite the coup. You'd think that they'd be the ones sending out a draft pick, but instead they're just taking on additional salary. That does put them a bit into the luxury tax, but it's close enough that they could get out of it with another move either now or by the trade deadline. They can't really go too much the other way with adding more salary now because this hard-caps them at the First Apron, and this move likely rules them out of the Bradley Beal market once he reaches his Phoenix buyout.
The culmination of this deal is funny because Collins had been linked to Miami this summer but is landing in LA, and both Anderson and Love are former UCLA players who are winding up in Utah instead of LA. This also puts the Clippers into the tax with at least one more roster spot to fill, and they are around $6.7 million away from their First Apron hard cap, which is enough to use the $5.3 million remainder of their MLE. It didn't seem like they wanted to extend Powell at age 32 after his big season tailed off in the second half due to injury, especially since other deals have provided a lot of flexibility to have a lot of cap space next summer depending on how they handle team options and partial guarantees.
The shift from Powell to Collins provides a different look with Kawhi Leonard shifting back to small forward instead of playing up a position. Collins regained his shooting stroke in Utah to convert on 38.2% of his threes while attempting a solid 3.5 per game, so this change shouldn't hurt the spacing too badly. They lose the dynamic element of having another wing like Powell between Leonard and Harden but gain more size and rebounding.
Although Collins is coming off a productive year, this isn't a bad outcome for the Jazz due to his high salary that made trade fits a challenge. Getting a 2nd rounder that comes after the Clippers might be making big changes next summer could be useful, and they didn't have a 2nd in that year before this. Perhaps they can flip these veterans, particularly Anderson, by the trade deadline for more, but if not, they're both solid locker room presences for their young roster.
As it stands now, Utah could get to around $8.4 million in cap space, and that can rise to about $18.8 million if they waive the non-guaranteed contracts of KJ Martin and Jaden Springer. Maybe they'll be the team that offers a lifeline to the restricted free agent market since Quentin Grimes was reportedly a sticking point with the Knicks in Donovan Mitchell trade talks back in the day. Or as Gozlan noted, they could stay over the cap by using the MLE to absorb salary and instead create a large Trade Exception worth Collins' $26,580,000 salary.
Rollins to re-sign with the Bucks: 3 years, $12 million (Shams 7/6)
| Ryan Rollins | $3,703,704 | $4,000,000 | $4,296,296 |
Because Rollins joined Milwaukee in the back-half of the '23-24 season, even on a Two-Way, they had Early Bird Rights to give him a deal like this. That means that his $2.3 million cap hold will need to stay on the books when they renounce the rest of their free agents to have the cap space for the Myles Turner signing, and then they can go over the cap to replace that cap hold with this figure.
The former Warriors 2nd round pick didn't play a ton of minutes when filling in for Lillard as a starter but was productive on both ends of the floor in the time that he received. The player option at the end is a little rich for a player this unproven, but otherwise it's a nice deal for Rollins after he had per 36 averages of 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.8 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 2.3 turnovers with 48.7%/40.8%/80.9% shooting.
7-team trade wrapping up draft day deals makes NBA history (7/6)
Rockets receive:
| Clint Capela | $6,825,397 | $7,166,667 | $7,507,937 |
Suns receive:
| Jalen Green | $33,333,333 | $36,000,000 | $36,000,000 |
| Dillon Brooks | $21,124,110 | $19,992,727
|
#10 pick Khaman Maluach
#31 pick Rasheer Fleming
#41 pick Koby Brea
2026 2nd round pick (2nd-best of Mavericks, Thunder, or 76ers)
Lakers receive:
#36 pick Adou Thiero
Timberwolves receive:
#45 pick Rocco Zikarsky
2026 2nd round pick (lesser of Nuggets and Warriors, via Suns)
2032 2nd round pick (better of Rockets and Suns)
Cash considerations (via Lakers)
Nets receive:
2026 2nd round pick (lesser of Clippers and [best of Celtics/Heat/Pacers], via Rockets)
2030 Celtics 2nd round pick (via Rockets)
Warriors receive:
#52 pick Alex Toohey
#59 pick Jahmai Mashack (sent out in separate trade)
Hawks receive:
Right to swap 2031 2nd round picks with Rockets
Cash Considerations
Now that the moratorium is over and teams are announcing full details of trades, I figured I'd summarize the first seven-team deal in NBA history since some of the details were in my draft summary and others were spread out in their own individual updates. Aside from not knowing the destinations of the Two-Way contract guys, I was able to put together the details of this behemoth
last week when it first had NBA Twitter abuzz. The inclusion of Plowden in particular was just so that Atlanta could "touch" another team as Phoenix immediately waived him.
