Well that was quick. The new CBA now allows teams to negotiate with their own free agents the day after the Finals ends, and now after seemingly a one day grace period for the Boston Celtics to enjoy their well-deserved championship, we have our first deal! That's created this tracker earlier than usual, which makes things easier in a way to include draft week trades, and I'll just include draft pick thoughts in a separate post. 6/26 Update: You can find what every team did during the draft HERE.
As usual with these type of posts, I'll be updating constantly to make this your one-stop shop for all of the deals, with the newest transactions at the top. I'll make note of the date when whoever broke the news tweeted it along with my projections of the salaries based on reported contract details, and "Command F" is definitely helpful to find specific players as the deals pour in. Figures for existing contracts in trades usually come from Keith Smith on Spotrac, and stats are from Basketball Reference, RealGM, or the NBA's advanced stats page. The visual key consists of player options/team options/not fully guaranteed.
6/30 Update: The NBA announced that the official salary cap came in slightly lower than projected: $140,588,00 with the luxury tax at $170,814,000, the First Apron $178,132,000, and the Second Apron $188,931,000. With next year's cap projected to be $154,647,000, I've updated max contract figures below based on this. Now back to the deals:
Sacramento sheds salary on San Antonio (Shams 10/14)
Spurs receive:
Kings receive:
2025 2nd round pick (protected 31-55)
Scotto added the details on the picks as well as cash involved to help cover McDaniels' salary, which reportedly will be waived. After taking him as part of the Vezenkov salary dump, now Sacramento gives themselves a little more breathing room under the luxury tax. San Antonio isn't close to having to worry about that, so they used part of the Room MLE as a trade exception to add yet another future pick.
Magic extend Carter: 3 years, $59 million (Shams 10/7)
WCJ will now always be a part of NBA reporting history as Shams' first scoop since switching to ESPN. Since Carter's previous extension was so cheap, this is the most that he could receive in an extension with the starting salary 140% of the estimated average salary.
10/8 Update: Scotto adds that the last year is a team option.
Pelicans extend Alvarado: 2 years: $9 million (Shams 9/28)
The former undrafted free agent and Two-Way player gets a safe guarantee with the player option to potentially make a lot more if he can stay healthy. This could be structured as $4,326,923 and $4,673,077, but it would make sense to have a flat rate for Alvarado to get a little more right away before opting out of this cheap deal.
Minnesota and New York pull off stunning swap of Kentucky big men (Shams 9/27)
Knicks receive:
Timberwolves receive:
2025 Pistons 1st round pick (protected 1-13 in '25, 1-11 in '26, 1-9 in '27, then becomes '27 2nd)
Hornets receive:
TBD draft compensation to absorb salary, including DaQuan Jeffries
I originally started putting in a summary here, but this big of a deal deserved its own post.
Clippers extend Mann: 3 years, $47 million (Shams 9/27)
Entering the last year of his bargain 2 year, $22 million extension, Mann could've received as much as $51.8 million over this same period, so it seems he's taking the guaranteed offer on the table now again. Marks reports that the first year starts at $15.5 million, so I'm guessing that each year will be relatively flat instead of the standard 8% raises for a $14,506,173/$15,666,667/$16,827,160 structure. And as Bontemps pointed out, Mann is still trade eligible immediately since this wasn't too high of an extension.
76ers extend Embiid: 3 years, $193 million (Shams 9/20)
Embiid had a $59,033,114 player option for the '26-'27 season that will be declined and replaced by the first year of this extension that's projected to be for slightly more. That's based on the maximum 10% cap increases the next two years to about $170.1 million and then taking 35% of that as a max player with 10+ years of experience.
Knicks sign Morris: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 9/15)
Like with Shamet and Okeke, I'm guessing that this is a non-guaranteed deal to battle for New York's last roster spot. Morris has a more proven track record, though, so I could be wrong with the Knicks just willing to eat a guaranteed salary at final cuts.
Cavs re-sign Okorro: 3 years, $38 $33 million (Woj 9/14)
Being a restricted free agent likely tempered Okoro's market, so keeping this a short deal at the relatively low average value could allow him to hit unrestricted free agency sooner. It looks like Cleveland will be a luxury tax team now barring a trade to shed a little bit of salary.
Update: Chris Fedor adds that it's actually for $33 million with an additional $5 million in incentives. which means that the starting salary will definitely be below what Okoro's $11,828,974 qualifying offer was. The Cavs really used the hammer of restricted free agency here to get a good deal.
Knicks sign Shamet: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 9/14)
Mavs re-sign Morris: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 9/7)
Nuggets (finally) extend Murray: 4 years, $208 million (Woj 9/7)
Clippers extend Zubac: 3 years, $58.6 million (Woj 8/30)
Pacers extend McConnell: 4 years, $45 million (Woj 8/30)
Going four years for a player who is already 32 is a little questionable, but it could've been to help keep the annual salaries lower after McConnell's great last couple of years.
9/3 Update: Marks reports that the third year is only partially guaranteed for $5 million and that the last year is a team option that then becomes only partially guaranteed for $5 million if picked up.
Warriors extend Curry: 1 year, $62.6 million (Woj 8/29)
This 5% raise for just one year was the most that Golden State could offer the franchise icon due to the Over-38 rule. After a lot of the fanbase has complained about them not going all-in to try to contend with Curry still on the roster, this is a show of good trust between the two sides going forward.
Celtics sign Walker: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 8/28)
Pelcians sign Green: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 8/20)
Green has been an underrated wing that could help fill out New Orleans' bench well, and Andrew Lopez reports that this deal is fully guaranteed.
76ers sign Yabusele: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams that it was close, then Scotto 8/18)
The 16th pick in the 2016 draft has been generating buzz since his standout Olympics performance, where he averaged 14 points in 23:19 minutes as the second-leading scorer for France...and had one of the highlights of the tournament in the finals.
GUERSCHON YABUSELE ON LEBRON JAMES. 😳
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 10, 2024
📺 NBC and Peacock | #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/cjrH6Q9Epd
It was up in the air if Yabusele would try to make it back to the NBA since he reportedly has a $2.5 million buyout with Real Madrid, and Philadelphia can only contribute $825,000 towards that, per John Hollinger. That means that most of this season's salary will go towards the buyout since Yabusele only lasted two seasons in his first NBA stint to qualify for the salary above, but the 28 year old could increase his future earning potential by filling a hole for this new-look Sixers squad. While I think the "French Draymond" moniker from when he was drafted isn't that accurate, Yabusele can bring some tough defense and more size (6'8", 260 lbs) than their other forward options. He's shot 41% (345 of 841) on threes across all competitions the past three seasons in Europe, and if he can come close to that with the NBA line, he'll have much more staying power this time around.
Jazz sign Mills: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 8/14)
Jazz sign Mykhailiuk: 4 yeras, $15 million (Woj 8/9)
Going this many years for such a low cost (his minimum as a six-year vet would've been about $12.3 million) is a big odd, so I'm fairly confident that Utah gave him a slight bump this year to have control of his future with non-guaranteed future seasons.
8/12 Update: Keith Smith confirms my suspicions with two non-guaranteed years followed by a team option like I had above.
Spurs sign Flynn: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 8/7)
San Antonio already has 15 players signed, so I'm guessing that this is a non-guaranteed minimum.
Jazz to renegotiate-and-extend Markkanen: 5 years, $238 million; $220 million in new money (Shams 8/6 Woj 8/7)
This won't be agreed to until tomorrow or later so that Markkanen can ensure that he won't be traded this season since there will be a six-month waiting period once the deal is signed, and the Trade Deadline is February 6th. In the article from Shams, Slater, and Tony Jones, they reported that the "deal is projected to be worth upwards of $200 million over five years." A 30% max contract that another team could offer Markkanen next summer is expected to be for $199,494,630 over four years based on the rising cap, so that would seem to be the floor for his extension. My projection above is based on Utah using $24,131,856 of their cap space to bump up his current $18,044,544 salary to his max for this season, and then spreading the remaining $175,362,774 over the next four years.
If it does end up being "only" in that $200 million range for total money as the report indicates, that would be a surprising value for the Jazz. Besides the $199.5 million from other teams, they could offer Markkanen as much as $269 million over five years if he hits free agency. A renegotiation-and-extension in this way would mean that he only goes on the books over the next four seasons for somewhere around that $175 million number above, after the $24.13 million raise this year. Being able to use their cap space to provide their star with the security of the massive deal now rather than waiting for free agency seems to have provided a ton of flexibility in negotiations.
8/7 Update: Well me playing around with the potential numbers based on The Athletic's report turned out to be a huge waste of time because Woj now reports that it's $220 million in new money for a total of $238 million, which makes way more sense. That means that after the $24.13 million raise this year, Markkanen will have about $195.87 million left on his extension over the next four seasons, so the Jazz will have his cap hits at a hair under his max over that span. This is obviously more than the offer that I said other teams could give him next year, and he will earn about $12.15 million more over these five years than if he just re-signed on a four-year deal next summer.
Knicks sign Okeke: 1 year, minimum contract (Scotto 8/1)
The former #16 pick has seen his role diminish in recent years as Orlando improved, so we'll see if this is a guaranteed deal or not. Okeke could provide some defense on the wing for New York, and they could use a little more depth at forward.
Cavaliers extend Allen: 3 years, $90.72 million (Woj 7/31)
Grizzlies re-sign Kennard: 1 year, $11 million (Woj 7/31)
Trail Blazers sign Graham: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/30)
Most the guard minutes in Portland should be divided between Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe, but a veteran backup point guard was needed with that group. Graham is a nice get for them as someone who isn't good enough that he needs a ton of minutes (case in point his season with the Spurs last year despite their point guard situation), but he can step in if needed with a solid track record.
Knicks re-sign Achiuwa: 1 year, $6 million (Woj 7/30)
This appears to be just short of what his $6,275,862 Qualifying Offer would have been, and that's a fair compromise late into free agency. Achiuwa fills a big need for New York as a backup big, and he can head back into free agency next year with potentially more of a free agent market.
Suns sign Jones: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/27)
Phoenix and Atlanta swap young forwards (Woj 7/26)
Suns receive:
Hawks receive:
This is an interesting one since Liddell and Roddy were comparable prospects in the 2022 draft, and I was surprised that the former fell to #41 while the latter went higher than expected at #23. Both have now been traded twice, and if there is nothing else involved here, it's a curious challenge trade. Liddell unfortunately hasn't been able to show much after tearing his ACL in summer league right after being drafted, but I prefer the Suns side with him, especially since the difference in salary has an impact on their already massive tax bill.
Nets sign Hayes: 1 year, non-guaranteed minimum (Shams 7/25)
Like I described with the Ziaire Williams pickup, this is another solid flier by Brooklyn on a former top-10 pick. Hayes is only turning 23 this week and has at least shown that he can be an adequate passer off the bench. At the very least, he could help their attempt to Dragg for Flagg if they need to ramp up his minutes down the stretch.
Wizards re-sign Gill: 2 years, $4.78 million (Bontemps 7/25)
Pacers re-sign Johnson: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/24)
Johnson doesn't play much anymore, but Indiana keeps brining him back to serve as a strong locker room vet. Depending on some of their non-guaranteed contracts, this will just about fill out the roster.
7/19 Update: Scotto reports that it only has $750,00 guaranteed.
Kings sign Robinson: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/24)
It's unclear if this is a guaranteed deal or not after Robinson was waived by the Heat earlier in the offseason, but I like it as a depth addition. The former Two-Way player just turned 24 and has shown some skill as a scorer and rebounder, even if he hasn't shown enough to earn coaches' trust for playing time.
8/8 Update: Keith Smith reports that it is only $500,000 guaranteed.
Pacers extend Nembhard: 3 years, $59 million (Woj 7/24)
76ers sign Jackson: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/23)
7/24 Update: Scotto adds that Jackson gave up $3.3 million in his buyout with the Hornets, which is what he'll be earning as a veteran with 10+ year of experience on a one-year deal with the cap hit above.
Mavs (re-)sign Dinwiddie: 1 year deal (Shams 7/22)
Celtics extend Hauser: 4 years, $45 million (Woj 7/21)
I wasn't sure if this would get done since they could've declined his cheap player option for this season to flatten out the new money like OKC did with Joe and Wiggins, but three weeks later, here is the extension. Hauser's new deal will kick in after Al Horford and Jaden Springer are (tentatively) scheduled to come off the books but at the same time as Tatum's and White's extensions. I already had $198.5 million projected in 2025-26 just for the starting five, and now this contract will bring them to $225.5 million committed to 11 players if you include a couple of cheap non-guarantees. As Bobby Marks points out, that would result in an additional $210 million in luxury tax payments due to the repeater penalty kicking in and harsher thresholds that season.
Cavs extend Mobley: 5 years, $224 million (Woj 7/20)
Like with fellow 2021 draftees Barnes, Cunningham, and Wagner, this is a 25% max contract with language written in to increase to a 30% max of $269 million if Mobley becomes eligible for it by making an All-NBA team, wins DPOY, or wins MVP this season. It's a bit surprising to see teams cave so much on handing these potential 30% maxes out, even if it is unlikely that the player will qualify for it, but I suppose it's better for the relationship with a core player than to go into the cold world of restricted free agency. Now that Mobley is secured long-term among Cleveland's core, it's worth revisiting something from their section of my end of season wrap up:
Cleveland had an odd season that started 18-15 with each member of their core four missing some time, then had a 17-1 stretch that began when Evan Mobley and Darius Garland were out, and finished 13-18 with more time missed, particularly from Donovan Mitchell. There's likely a lot of noise there, but one takeaway is that they were at their best when running the offense through Mitchell in more of a spread system, so the development of Mobley's outside shot could be huge for the long-term viability of his front-court pairing with Jarrett Allen. Through Mobley's first 23 games, he only attempted 11 threes and made just 2, but over his final 27 games, that jumped up to 20 makes on 48 attempts (41.7%).
In the playoffs, Mobley only made 5 of 18 threes (27.8%), but having the willingness to at least take 1.5 per game after the 1.8 he averaged over his final 27 regular season games is something to note. He also was playing more center than usual due to Allen getting injured, so when they play together again, more threes could come to make the defensive stalwart a more versatile big.
7/24 Update: Zach Lowe brought up on his podcast that these rookie extensions being a full five years without a player option has been a key negotiating point. He also reported that if Mobley "only" makes Third Team All-NBA, then he'll earn 27.5% of the salary cap compared to the full 30% if he makes First or Second team, which is a tactic that should be used more.
Nets re-sign Johnson: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams with news, Scotto details 7/20)
A 2021 1st rounder, Johnson mostly played in the G League last year on a Two-Way with the Nets last season after being involved in a couple of trades and being cut following his first two years, but now he at least got a partial guarantee to try to establish himself on a rebuilding club. Overall in 41 games with the Long Island Nets, the 22 year old guard averaged 17.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.5 blocks, and 2.2 turnovers in only 27.2 minutes, mostly off the bench, with 47.3%/36.6%/78.9% shooting.
Brooklyn takes on a flier in Memphis salary dump (Woj 7/19)
Nets receive:
Grizzlies receive:
Draft rights to Nemanja Dangubic (#54 pick 2014)
I love how Sean Marks is going back to his early Nets playbook of being opportunistic to acquire talent (and draft assets) with a former top-10 pick here, Ziaire Williams. It reminded me of the trade for D'Angelo Russell ear the end of his rookie contract in 2017 and the salary dumps like Allen Crabbe, DeMarre Carroll, Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, and Rashad Vaughn that often came attached with draft picks that helped their rebuild to become a free agent destination in 2019. This time they're just using a Trade Exception (from the O'Neale midseason move) and flexibility under the luxury tax to take on salary instead of cap space while simply sending out the partial guarantee of a player they added in a recent trade that landed more picks.
Williams hasn't lived up to his pedigree yet, but he only turns 23 in September, is on an expiring contract if it doesn't work out, and will be under the control of restricted free agency if he does breakout. A long wing with his kind of smooth athleticism and some shot-making ability is worth taking a chance on, and that Dallas 2nd rounder is far enough down the line that it also could have some upside if Luka isn't on the team by then.
It is understandable that Memphis pulled the plug on the Williams project as they try to get back into playoff contention this year and have added other young wings who passed him in the pecking order. Now they have around $10 million in room under the tax line to re-sign Luke Kennard after declining his $14,763,636 team option, and that could go slightly up if they waive Diakite, who only has $1.39 million guaranteed. I'd guess that they probably bring the 27 year old to camp as another depth piece in their open front court before deciding on the minimal savings. Getting Dangubic's draft rights included seems like a trivial add since he's 31 now and not exactly lighting it up in Europe. Those rights will likely be most useful as just something to send out in future deals instead of cash or a top-55 protected 2nd when you simply need a nominal piece included.
Clippers sign-and-trade for Dunn: 3 years, $17 million (Woj 7/18)
Clippers receive:
17 days after Haynes reported below that Dunn was going to L.A., he finally added the financial details after Woj broke the sign-and-trade story. It seemed like a game of chicken with everyone knowing that Westbrook will eventually end up in Denver, and now that will be the case after Utah immediately gets rid of him after a trade just like in February of 2023. I'm guessing it was just a matter of how much cash the Jazz would get to cover his contract along with how small of a draft asset will be attached for a player they'd be losing anyway. This way they help Dunn, a nice backup guard with great defensive chops, get more salary than the Clips could offer otherwise, although the non-guaranteed last year was tacked on only due to sign-and-trades need to be for at least three seasons.
It really is similar to Westbrook's former teammate OKC Reggie Jackson getting salary dumped to the same team twice in 17 months as I mentioned below, and now they'll both be former Clippers who join the Nuggets, as well. Once that becomes official, the new Denver backup will be signing for the minimum, which is all that they can offer:
Update: Woj added more details about the swap and cash that updated above, and he also included the draft rights to Balsa Koprivica as part of the return for Utah. Detroit sold those rights to the former late 2nd rounder to L.A. for just cash last year in a nondescript move that seemed more like the Clips using their cash while they still could, so I wouldn't expect him to become some big prospect. Koprivica did get some more minutes this past season, but the 24 year old still wasn't a regular starter for KK Partizan.
7/26 Update: Shams reports that Denver is giving Westbrook a 1+1 deal, which is pretty surprising since they've been so conscious of their luxury tax bill and they were just burned by giving Jackson a player option. Making it more than a one-year deal means that they have to pay the whole thing rather than getting the league subsidization and, more importantly, that his cap hit counts as his full salary. That's a $1.22 million difference which adds about $3 million in taxes for around $4.22 more in total cost. They might as well have just traded for him at his $4 million salary without the commitment for next year and gotten what Utah did for their troubles.
Magic sign Joseph: "2 year deal" (Scotto 7/17)
Spurs re-sign Bassey: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/16)
Spurs re-sign Mamukelashvili: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/16)
Bucks sign Trent: 1 year deal, minimum contract (Woj 7/16)
Hornets re-sign Curry: 1 year deal (Woj 7/15)
Knicks sign Payne: 1 year, minimum contract (Haynes 7/15)
Hornets sign Gibson: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/12)
Impressively going into his 16th season, Gibson will earn $3.3 million with the smaller cap charge since it's a one year deal. I wouldn't expect him to play much, but he'll play a key role as a locker room presence and show Charlotte's young team how to be a pro under rookie head coach Charles Lee.
76ers re-sign Martin: 2 years, $16 million (Woj 7/12)
It's funny how I mentioned the possibility of KJ Martin becoming a walking Trade Exception earlier in the Caleb Martin section, then Okogie gets the type of contract to be just that, and the next day Philly hands out seemingly the exact same deal. Although I haven't seen any reporting yet on whether the second year is non-guaranteed, I would guess that it is, and honestly this isn't as big of balloon payment as I expected for trade-matching purposes. It is less risky this way, of course, since there is no certainty that a deal will be out there for them come January 15th when Martin becomes trade eligible. He could still be aggregated with some of their other, likely minimum salaries, and they'll just need to be careful that they're not taking back more than they send out since they'll be above the First Apron once they fill out the roster.
7/15 Update: Scotto now confirms my suspicions that the second year is non-guaranteed, which of course makes this a very tradable contract.
Knicks extend Brunson: 4 years: $156.5 million (Woj 7/12)
There were some murmurings that Brunson might actually take the extension now instead of waiting for more money next year, but it's still pretty shocking that he went through with it. While it was a given that he would decline his $24,960,001 player option for 2025-26, the fact that his current contract was front-loaded meant that an extension working off of this year's salary would be below market rate.
Even with the new CBA allowing more flexibility in extensions, the most that New York could offer right now is 140% of that number, which results in the starting salary of $39,44,001 above. If Brunson instead waited until next summer (with his player option as a safety net), he would have been eligible for a max contract that is 30% of a salary cap that is expected to rise by 10% to $154,647,000. That's a starting salary of $46,394,100 and could total $269,085,780 over five years, a big difference from this deal. Now, you have to consider that he will likely opt out agin after the first three years of this extension, which would be in 2028 when he has 10 years of experience and would be eligible for a 35% max. So what we're really looking at is $113,218,565 versus $150,316,884 over that span and potentially earning his next contract a year sooner, when he'll be turning 32 instead of 33. It is not as drastic of a discount when you put it that way, and as I've said before, I'll never begrudge a player for taking the security now, especially when he's in a good situation. And now the Knicks will benefit from it with more flexibility to build the team around him and his Villanova buddies going forward.
Jazz re-sign Juzang: 4 years, $12 million (Woj 7/12)
I haven't seen any details about guaranteed money, but coming off two years on Two-Way contracts, I'm guessing that Juzang is getting a touch more than his $2,087,519 minimum to get locked in under team control with some non-guarantees and a team option on the back end. It should be a nice raise for the 23 year old in any case.
Suns re-sign Okogie: 2 years, $16 million (Shams 7/11)
After Okogie only got a small raise to $2,815,937 with Non-Bird Rights last summer and then had an uneven year, I was surprised at this initial number. Then as soon as I tweeted that maybe it's to give Phoenix a much-needed mid-sized salary for a potential midseason trade, a follow up came out that the second year is non-guaranteed. He is getting a nice bump up from the $2,956,734 player option that he declined and could have a key role as their best perimeter defender, but he just hasn't been able to maintain a consistent three-point shot. That's needed around the attention that the Suns stars draw, so we'll see how big of a role he ends up with, especially after they drafted a similar player in Ryan Dunn.
76ers re-sign Lowry: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/11)
Philadelphia had to renounce Lowry's cap hold to create the cap space for their prior moves and don't have any exceptions remaining to use, so the only question is if he got the minimum for one year or two. The 38 year old Philly native was solid in his role after coming home in February, and after their additions, he won't need to be relied on as much as he pursues another ring with Coach Nurse...and as I wrote that, Woj added that it is just a one year deal, which allows for the lower cap hit while Lowry makes $3.3 million.
Wizards sign Bey: 3 years, $20 million (Woj 7/10)
It was tough to gauge what Bey's market might be due to a torn ACL suffered in March, and I thought a minimum back in Atlanta so that they could retain his Bird Rights for next year might be the move. The Krejci move earlier in the afternoon might've taken their last roster spot, though, so instead it's an intriguing buy-low opportunity for Washington. If you do assume a minimum contract for this year in which Bey presumably doesn't play much as he rehabs, this is basically paying for the following two years at about $18 million. For a team that's playing for the future, I like that bet on a 25 year old who has shown that he can be a starting caliber wing. Since this is likely using the MLE, turning the Valanciunas acquisition into a sign-and-trade with a Trade Exception proved a prudent move.
Hawks re-sign Krejci: 4 years, $10 million (Woj 7/10)
7/13 Update: Scotto reports that only the first year is guaranteed, the second is guaranteed for $1.5 million, the third is non-guaranteed, and the fourth is a team option. I updated the colors above to reflect this very team friendly deal.
Pistons claim Reed: 2 years, $15.8 million remaining (Shams 7/9)
Given that Detroit can still have around $19 million in cap space left after making this claim (if using the Room Exception on Beasley), it's as good of a use as any. BBall Paul just turned 25 last month and is a solid rotation player up front, and they need to just accumulate as much talent as they can after these last couple of seasons.
Nets re-sign Watford: 1 year, $2.7 million (Woj 7/9)
Heat re-sign Highsmith: 2 years, $11 million (Woj 7/8)
It feels like defensive role players have been getting squeezed this offseason, and this could end up a bargain if Highsmith's improvement to 39.6% three-point shooting (on 5.1 attempts per -36 minutes) last season is sustainable. The 27 year old only shot 33.1% in his career prior to that, but this is another developmental success story for #HeatCulture in any case. The former undrafted forward started on a Two-Way contract and earned just over $4 million in his career before this, so it's nice to seem him get this deal, with the opportunity for more in just two years if he continues to improve.
This starting salary, which is almost the same as the Taxpayer MLE number, takes Miami pretty close to the Second Apron, so I would guess that they leave the 15th roster spot open going into the season for flexibility.
Pelicans sign Theis: 1 year deal (Woj 7/8)
Kings sign McLaughlin: 1 year deal (Woj 7/6)
Make that two former USC guards that Sacramento is adding today, although this one is much cheaper. It's likely for the minimum given how close they are to the luxury tax and how McLaughlin couldn't hold onto a steady role for Minnesota last year. That would still net him $2.4 million with the NBA's subsidization as a five year vet, and he's had enough nice moments during that time to be relied on as Fox's backup until rookie Devin Carter is ready.
Nuggets re-sign Cancar: TBD on details (Scotto 7/6)
Denver has full Bird Rights to offer more, but I'm fairly certain that this will be for the minimum after they declined a $2,346,606 on the 27 year old forward. Cancar missed all of last season with a torn ACL but has been playing with Slovenia in Olympic qualifiers this month, signaling his return to health.
7/7 Update: Keith Smith confirms that it's a 1 year, minimum contract and fully guaranteed.
Kings sign-and-trade for DeRozan: 3 years, $74 million (Shams with the news, Woj the details 7/6)
Kings receive:
Spurs receive:
Bulls receive:
Two 2nd round picks
Cash considerations
Woj and Marks reported it as $74 million plus bonuses for making an All-Star team, with the third year partially guaranteed before Haynes and Shams said $76 million. I'm going with the former amount here since DeRozan wasn't an All-Star last year, which thus makes that bonus "unlikely." It sounds like about half of the last year is guaranteed based on Haynes saying $59 million guaranteed, and it's a solid deal for the soon-to-be 35 year old in this tough market. Although the fit isn't perfect around De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis given DeRozan's reluctance to take threes, Sacramento was in the market for a more dynamic wing to take pressure off of their two stars.
I think Barnes' versatile defense will be missed more than expected, but at this moderate difference in salary and reasonable cost in draft capital, this move should be worth it. The fact that the partially guaranteed year is when both Fox and Keegan Murray will likely be starting new extensions is smart planning. Having the draft swap as far down the line as you can go (and when Wembanyama will be in his prime) is risky, but like I always say, swaps are pretty volatile.
As mentioned below, this was anticipated by the Spurs after their other trade this morning, and I like them gaining yet another pick swap while adding a more experienced version forward for the Julian Champagnie role in their starting lineup. Already having swaps with the Hawks in 2026, the Celtics in 2028 (top-1 protected), and the Mavs and Wolves in 2030, now they add one in 2031 as they continue to bet on becoming great in the near future. I think San Antonio will have to waive Charles Bassey's non-guaranteed $2,500,000 as the last step here, but that was unfortunately always the likely outcome after his torn ACL in December. That might still leave them a touch short depending on CP3's official salary, and since I haven't seen anything reported yet about what they are sending out, perhaps another small salary will be moved.
Chicago probably could've gotten more than this had they sold during the season rather than chasing the Play-In yet again, but hey, at least they got something for an outgoing free agent. This helps make up for lacking their 2nd rounders in each of the next three drafts, and although Duarte has been traded twice during his rookie contract for a reason, he's heading to restricted free agency next summer. They accomplished their goal of not taking back long-term salary, and they create a Trade Exception worth the difference between DeRozan and Duarte's salaries: about $17.6 million. They have about $4.7 million of breathing room under the tax line now, so I wouldn't expect that to be used until other moves might get made over the next year before it expires.
7/8 Update: The deal is now official, and I added Gray above because he is the outgoing piece from San Antonio, which is pretty rare for someone on a Two-Way contract. As expected, Bassey was waived in order to complete the trade. With no other roster casualties announced to make the math work, I'm guessing that Barnes waived his trade kicker, Paul's $11 million contract included some unlikely bonuses (perhaps tied to starts since he came off the bench last year), or both. 7/9 Update: Barnes confirmed in his introductory press conference that he waived his bonus, and Scotto reports that Paul's base salary will be $10.46 million with the potential to reach $12.03 million if incentives are met. Signing Paul before executing the trade that used up the rest of their cap space is a similar situation to the order of the Sixers' moves that I described in Martin's section below.
Nuggets sign Saric: 2 years, $10.6 million (Woj 7/6)
This will be the Taxpayer MLE, which hard-caps Denver at the Second Apron. Given their reluctance to pay up for Caldwell-Pope and vocal stance against the Second Apron, I don't think that will be a problem. Saric's play dropped off a bit after a hot start in Golden State last year after he had to settle for a minimum, but it's nice to see him get this deal after proving he's healthy now. His shooting will be much needed with the absence of KCP, even if he plays a different position as a versatile big. Hopefully this 1+1 deal with the Taxpayer MLE works out better than the one that they gave Reggie Jackson and had to pay to get off of last week.
Pistons re-sign Fontecchio: 2 years, $16 million (Woj 7/6)
This doesn't really affect Detroit's cap space situation other than that it requires them to keep his small $5,216,324 cap hold on the books before making this official. The 28 year old quietly became a solid starting wing in Utah last year before a midseason trade, and Fontecchio boosted his averages to 15.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.9 steals with 47.9%/42.6%/84.6% shooting in 16 games with the Pistons. Shooting that well while taking 6.3 threes with them (40.1% on 5.1 for the season overall) is a valuable thing for this team and continues their theme with the Beasley signing this morning.
Hornets re-sign Bridges: 3 years, $75 million (Shams with the news, Woj the details 7/6)
Charlotte will keep his $15,050,470 cap hold on the books while they complete their trades below to use up all of their cap room before making this official. The Denver trade for Jackson will likely be last, and depending on if they waive the non-guaranteed contracts of Bryce McGowens and Aleksej Pokusevski, they could be take him into the last of their space or use the Room MLE.
On the court, this is a decent value that's relatively short-term for the 26 year old volume scorer, and a potential lineup of him, LaMelo Ball, Josh Green, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams could be exciting if healthy. I wouldn't want to be in the Miles Bridges business with his off the court track record of domestic violence, however.
7/17 Update: Keith Smith reports that the contract is front-loaded, which makes sense to maximize their current payroll flexibility, so I think it will end up looking like this:
San Antonio salary dumps Graham back to Charlotte (Woj 7/6)
Hornets receive:
Spurs receive:
Cash
This is somewhat of a curious move by San Antonio since they had cap flexibility, and Graham only has $2,850,000 guaranteed. I guess even that small amount could impact their ability to help facilitate the rumored DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade from Chicago to Sacramento by taking on a large salary.
They have plenty of extra 2nd rounders to executive this, and this is solid work by Charlotte to pick another one up in exchange for cash from the new ownership group again (even if it is the minimal amount) and the small cap hit after they waive Graham. It's also fitting since it was on the Hornets where he first broke out to earn this contract in a sign-and-trade.
76ers sign Martin: 4 years, $32 $35 million (Woj 7/6)
Philadelphia is waiving Reed's non-guaranteed $7,723,000 contract to create a little more cap space like I mentioned in the Maxey section below, and it would seem that the rest of it will go to Martin before using the Room MLE on Oubre. After declining a $7,126,900 player option, Caleb Martin could receive a starting salary of around $7.9-$8.9M, depending on if they keep KJ Martin's cap hold on the books. Using the Room MLE would hard-cap them at the First Apron, though, so trade shenanigans with KJ Martin likely go out the door. (7/9 Update: I double-checked the CBA, and it turns out that the Room MLE surprisingly doesn't trigger either Apron like the Taxpayer MLE or full MLE.). Before this, if they were to sign a free agent for just around $5.1M (similar to what Drummond got as the equivalent of the Taxpayer MLE ) and Oubre was instead signed with cap space to avoid the hard-cap, then KJ Martin could be signed to a balloon payment type of deal, perhaps not fully guaranteed, to become a walking Trade Exception meant for matching salary during the season.
Update: It's funny how waiting just 44 minutes for contract details feels like an eternity, but Woj's follow up story says that it will be a 4 year, $32 million deal for the soon-to-be 29 year old. I added that projection above, and it feels like a bargain to have Martin at a starting salary that's barely above what his option was. After he torched Boston in last year's Eastern Conference Finals for 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds on 60.2%/48.9%/87% shooting, a huge raise seemed certain, but he was hurt by a buyer's market and a follow up season that basically just matched prior production: 10 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists with 43.1%/34.9%/77.8% shooting in only 27.4 minutes.
Martin has proven to be a battle-tested and versatile defender, though, and he should slot in well around the 76ers stars. It's kind of odd to me that he keeps getting mentioned as a power forward considering how he's 6'5", 205 lbs, with a 6'10" wingspan and a 13.9% career defensive rebounding rate, but that's semantics. Between him, George, and Oubre, they could start three similarly sized wings who switch on defense around Embiid and Maxey. This salary for Caleb Martin still allows them to keep KJ Martin's cap hold, but the idea of an highly inflated salary for a future trade seems unlikely since it seems that they will be hard-capped based on the expected sequencing of deals. Filling out the rest of the roster with just minimum contracts will already have them approaching the First Apron that they can't cross. Scotto also adds that in addition to the fourth year being a player option, the contract could be worth up to $40 million, and even if those bonuses are deemed "unlikely," that further limits their flexibility under the Apron since bonuses count towards it.
7/7 Update: Scotto provided an updated number of $35 million guaranteed, so I changed the projections above. As Albert Nahmad shrewdly pointed out, this is another example of Philly expertly managing their order of operations to maximize cap room. The team officially announced the Martin signing surprisingly quickly on Saturday after the reported news in the morning, and it was because they had to make that official first before signing others due to the contract bonuses. A team has to have ability to pay all of the contract, even if the bonuses are unlikely, so they needed to use about $9.3 million in space to sign Caleb Martin. Once that was done, the cap hit only counted as his $8.1 million base salary, leaving enough space to sign George and then Drummond while retaining the cap holds of Maxey and KJ Martin. Then came the Room MLE for Oubre and replacing Maxey's hold with his new contract, and here we are.
It's also worth noting a report from Barry Jackson that Martin turned down "5 years $65M" from the Heat. With his $7,126,900 player option, it's likely that Miami's off was to opt in and then add a 4 year, $58 million extension on top of it to help keep their tax bill down this season before the pay raise. Once Martin opted out, though, that offer was likely off the table since it would take them into the Second Apron. Even if Martin's incentives hit and he opts out again for a new deal, I'd estimate that his agent misreading the market will lead to him earning about $29.5 million over these next three years compared to $34 million from the Miami offer. And then he'd need to earn $31 million over the following two years to match what was on the table.
Pistons sign Beasley: 1 year, $6 million (Shams 7/6)
Between adding Harris, Hardaway, and now Beasley, it seems that Detroit's priority has been to add veteran scorers on short-term deals to take some pressure off of their young roster. Of the three, I like this addition the best since Beasley doesn't need the ball in his hands, can provide the most spacing as an elite shooter, and it could fit into the Room MLE to allow further use of cap space. The veteran gets a little pay raise after settling for the minimum to try and be showcased on a contender in Milwaukee last year, and at this salary, he could end up an easy addition for a playoff team by the trade deadline. That would be a nice secondary part of this Pistons strategy, and there's some merit to these moves, as long as they don't take away too many minutes from the youngsters.
Magic extend Wagner: 5 years, $224 million (Shams 7/5)
While he just barely missed out on "breaking" the news, I appreciate Woj saying the more accurate numbers on the extension compared to Shams' classic "up to $270 million." Woj even had a follow up tweet explaining the criteria needed for a 30% max to reach the $269* million.
That would have cap hits of $46,394,100, $50,105,628, $53,817,156, $57,528,684, and $61,240,212 if Wagner makes an All-NBA team this season, and in either case. Orlando could have theoretically held off on this deal until the summer in order to only have a $21,021,276 cap hold (in the same way that Philly did with Maxey), but with their other business this summer, they don't project to be a cap space player next year anyway. That's especially true if they reach a new deal Jalen Suggs, who was taken three picks before Wagner and thus also extension eligible up until Opening Night.
Clippers re-sign Jones: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/5)
L.A. signed the former 1st rounder on the last day of the season after he was out of the league the whole season, and after declining the $2,196,970 team option tacked on for optionality, the 23 year old is back on a non-guaranteed deal with a slightly smaller cap hit.
Warriors sign-and-trade for Hield: 4 years, estimated $37.8 million (Shams first, Woj with details 7/4)
Warriors receive:
76ers receive:
2031 Mavericks 2nd round pick
There's about $7.3 million left from the Thompson Trade Exception after accounting for the Anderson sign-and-trade, so Hield's starting salary could start around $7.5 million unless this ends up being a big five-team transaction. The Dallas 2nd came from that Thompson deal and allows Philly to recoup one of the three 2nd rounders that they used to acquire Hield on an expiring contract.
Update: Woj didn't provide a total amount but said that Hield is getting $18 million over the first two years with a partial guarantee of $3 million in year three before a player option for a fourth year that's completely non-guaranteed. It's a fascinating structure with Josh Hart and Davis Bertans the only other examples that I can think of with almost a mutual option on the last year, and spreading out the $21 million guaranteed like this works with being a sign-and-trade that requires at least a three year deal.
To have a salary that high, it does seem like this will end up being a huge five-team deal where both Anderson and Hield are coming in at once rather than creating a Trade Exception and then trying to take them in. I think that Minnesota just needs to have one more small transaction to "touch" another team, and then a triple sign-and trade will result in:
- The Warriors sending out Thompson's salary of an estimated $15,873,016, a future 2nd round swap to the Wolves, and cash while receiving Anderson's estimated $8,571,429, Hield's estimated $8,780,488, and a 2025 2nd round pick via the Hornets (Lesser of Nuggets or 76ers).
- The Mavericks sending out Green's $12,654,321 salary and a 2031 2nd while receiving Thompson's estimated $15,873,016 and an undisclosed 2nd from the Hornets.
- The Hornets sending out a 2nd round picks to each of the Warriors and Mavs while taking Green's $12,654,321 salary into either cap space or the MLE.
- The 76ers sending out Hield while receiving a 2nd round pick from the Mavs.
- The Timberwolves sending out Anderson while receiving cash and a future 2nd round swap from the Warriors.
Second Update: Slater confirms that it will end up as one big transaction. I'd guess that someone like Charlotte or Dallas ends up sending the minimal amount of cash needed to Minnesota to wrap things up.
7/6 Update: Scotto reported last night that Hield's deal will in fact be worth up to $38 million over the four years as I estimated. However, now that the deal is official, it ended up being an NBA record six teams involved as the Denver-Charlotte salary dump got roped in with the 2025 2nd rounder involved landing in either Dallas or Minnesota depending on where it finishes. That closed the loop on the Wolves "touching" at least two teams as they wound up with the 2025 2nd that was originally going to Golden State from Charlotte in the original report of the Thompson deal. So here's one more summary for each team:
- Warriors send out Klay Thompson, 2031 2nd round swap (Wolves), and cash while receiving Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson.
- Mavericks send out Josh Green and a 2031 2nd while receiving Klay Thompson and a 2025 2nd round pick (Better of Nuggets or 76ers).
- Hornets send out 2025 76ers 2nd round pick and cash while receiving Josh Green, Reggie Jackson, and 2029 and 2030 Nuggets 2nd round picks.
- 76ers send out Buddy Hield while receiving 2031 Mavs 2nd round pick.
- Timberwolves send out Kyle Anderson while receiving a 2025 2nd round pick (Lesser of Nuggets or 76ers), right to swap 2031 2nd round picks with the Warriors, and cash.
- Nuggets send out Reggie Jackson and 2025, 2029, and 2030 2nd round picks while receiving cash.
Nets sign-and-trade for Milton: 3 years, $9 million (Shams 7/4)
Nets receive:
This will be a part of the Bridges for Bogdanovic+picks deal from last week that's not yet official (see below), and I'm guessing that either DaQuan Jeffries or Mamadi Diakite will also end up being included so that New York won't wind up hard-capped at the First Apron. To recap, teams cannot receive more aggregated salary than they are sending out unless they stay below the First Apron, and Bridges makes $23,300,000 this season. Bogdanovic makes $19,032,850, so Milton at a number of around $3 million (with two non-guaranteed years tacked on because sign-and-trades have to be for at least three seasons) and one of the minimums contracts like Jeffries or Diakite works. Then Bates-Diop can just be taken in via the Minimum Exception and not count towards aggregation.
Update: Right after I wrote all of that and hit "update," I see that Fred Katz followed up on his colleague's report to confirm that Diakite is indeed also going out, so I added him above. A new rule in the CBA is that contracts at the minimum salary cannot be aggregated together during the offseason, apparently in order to prevent this kind of scenario, and that's why a Milton S&T had to be included. It works out for Diakite, whose contract was non-guaranteed and will have to get at least a partial guarantee with this move, depending on what Milton's actual numbers end up being.
The Knicks are still hard-capped, just by the Second Apron now instead due to aggregating salaries. That provides almost $11 million more in wiggle room and could allow them to bring back Precious Achiuwa and/or use the $5,168,000 Taxpayer MLE.
Bucks sign Prince: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/3)
Timberwolves sign Dozer: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/3)
Minimum contracts continue to fly on this fourth day of free agency, and this is somewhat of an intriguing add for Minnesota with their only mechanism to sign someone. Dozier played for KK Partizan (the team I mentioned below with Vukcevic, coincidentally enough) last year after only playing 16 games for Sacramento in the '22-23 season following a torn ACL on November 23rd, 2021. A lack of a consistent jumper (30.7% on threes for his career) limits him on the wing, but his 6'11" wingspan helps make him a disruptive defender at times.
Heat sign Burks: "1 year deal" (Woj 7/3)
Timberwolves sign Ingles: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/3)
As a Second Apron team, Minnesota can only offer the veteran minimum, with Ingles earning $3.3 million as a 10 year vet, and I think this is a great get, even as he turns 37 in October. After all, Orlando just paid him $11 million last season before declining the $11 million team option this summer for more cap space. The career 41% three-point shooter and underrated passer now reunites with his former Jazz teammates, Rudy Gobert an Mike Conley, and helps replace Anderson as a secondary option for bench units.
Heat re-sign Bryant: 1 year deal (Stein 7/3)
Wizards re-sign Vukcevic: Two-Way contract (Scotto 7/3)
I normally don't include Two-Way signings in this tracker since there's no salary cap hit to track, but this is a fascinating situation that I wanted to note. Tristan Vukcevic was the 42nd pick in the 2023 and seemed like an intriguing draft-and-stash candidate as he plays for KK Partizan in Serbia. As expected, he started the season there, but then right after his 21st birthday in March, he surprisingly left the team during the season to sign with Washington.
They used part of the MLE to give him a 2 year, $4,849,784 contract with the second year being a team option, and that was also a curious choice since they wouldn't have full Bird Rights by the time the deal was up. I thought that it might be just to get him his next contract sooner, and after the Wizards declined the $2,424,892 team option for this season, it seemed like they might just do a longer-term deal with Non-Bird Rights. Instead, they get him on just a Two-Way, and my only suspicion is that the first $2,424,892 salary in March was something of a balloon-payment to Vukcevic to then agree to this. It also likely helped secure his buyout from KK Partizan because I believe that NBA teams are not allowed to contribute to an international buyout if only signing the player to a Two-Way. For what it's worth, his small sample of 10 games produced per-36 averages of 20 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.6 blocks...along with 2.4 turnovers an 6.6 fouls.
Suns re-sign Lee: 1 year deal (Woj 7/3)
I'm guessing this just for the minimum after Lee missed all of last year with a knee injury. That's what made him declining his $2,845,342 player option surprising, but it might've just been a favor to the team to lower his cap hit slightly due to it being a one-year deal. He'll still get paid a very similar amount, $2,800,834, as a 7-year veteran, and if healthy, the 37.9% career three-point shooter who made 44.5% in his last season should prove useful around Phoenix's stars.
Lakers re-sign James: 2 years, $104 $101.355 million (Shams 7/3)
James also could have secured $161,960,205 million had he gone with a three year contract, but since he's the one who first made signing a 1+1 popular from when he returned to Cleveland in 2014, this makes sense. Rather than taking the most guaranteed money up front, he and agent Rich Paul realized that signing new deals each year with the rising cap maximizes the earning potential. In this case, a 10% salary cap increase projects for a 3 year, $175.3 million max contract next summer.
Opting out this year also in theory provided an avenue for L.A. to use the full MLE or acquire someone via sign-and-trade while stay under the First Apron, but that would've required a pretty sizable haircut by LeBron unless they sent out significant salary. With current estimates now, they're going to be right at the Second Apron with one roster spot open, although that will presumably go to his son, Bronny, on a rookie minimum after he was the 55th pick.
Update: Woj's story mentions that the younger James is getting a 4 year, $7.9 million contract (via the Second Round Pick Exception), so the Lakers are currently are just above the Second Apron pending their next move. Scotto also adds that along with the typical team option in year four, only the first two years of Bronny's deal are fully guaranteed with $1.3 million guaranteed in year three, so about $4.4 million total.
7/6 Update: Now that the contract is signed, Marks and Shams report that LeBron ended up taking slightly below his max for a total of $101.355 million instead (it'll likely just be a sacrifice of about $1 million since he'll opt out again next year to sign a new contract). In a way this accounts for giving the 55th pick, his son, a standard contract rather than just a Two-Way deal, and the Lakers are just below the Second Apron.
Warriors sign-and-trade for Anderson: 3 years, $27 million (Woj 7/2)
Warriors receive:
With no outgoing salary, it looks like this will use a chunk of the Thompson Trade Exception, and at this low of a salary, the Warriors can still avoid the luxury tax. They basically chose the more experienced (and older) Anderson and that financial benefit over Josh Green, and time will tell if that's the right choice. Slater adds that the third year is non-guaranteed, so that is another element to consider.
Slo Mo does fit the type of player that Steve Kerr likes as a smart and versatile forward who serves as a connective passer and willing defender. Due to Minnesota's luxury tax situation this year, there was pretty much no chance that they would be keeping him despite his role in their run to the Western Conference Finals, so they were willing to play ball to get him to a preferred destination. The cash can help their checkbooks in this expensive season, but since the 2nd round swap isn't worth much, this is mostly just to create a Trade Exception worth Anderson's first year salary. And that's more of a tool for them to potentially use next year if they get out of the Second Apron.
Magic renegotiate-and-extend Isaac: 5 years, $84 million total (Woj 7/2)
Fischer's report that I mentioned below in the Wagner section turned out to be true, and without knowing further details of guarantees, this is a shocking commitment to a player with Isaac's injury history. He had a non-guaranteed $17,400,000 contract this season, and I'm estimating that they're using the rest of their cap space to bump up this year's number before having the largest possible decline of 40% in these rare renegotiation-and-extends to have more team friendly cap hits going forward. Isaac was a defensive wrecking ball once he finally got back on the court for 65 games (including the playoffs) after only playing in 45 total over the four previous seasons, so this is great for him to cash in on that with $66,600,000 in new money.
7/6 Update: Scotto has been coming in clutch with contract detlails today as the moratorium is over, and he reported that these are the figures, with the third year having $8 million guaranteed. So Isaac receives $30.6 million guaranteed in new money and overall is adding four years and $66.6 million to his deal, which is similar to his original rookie extension of four years and $69.6 million. Doing it this way with the renegotiation-and-extension allows it to count as 4 years and $59 million on the cap sheet for Orlando going forward, so it's a win-win.
Celtics re-sign Tillman: "2 year deal" (Woj 7/2)
Boston has full Bird Rights on Tillman following the February trade for him, so they're not limited in what they can offer him. For now, I'm estimating the minimum on a 1+1 since his agents didn't brag about the details to Woj right away, and that would allow him to try to hit the market again next year when there's more cap room to go around.
7/6 Update: This deal was officially addd to the NBA transactions list on July 2nd, which means that it was, in fact, a minimum contract, and Keith Smith reports today that both years are fully guaranteed with no options. That's a surprising bargain for team that's going to become ridiculously expensive.
Suns sign Morris: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/2)
Phoenix media, namely John Gambadoro and Gerald Bourguet, were all over this possibility, and I think the "Count of Monte Assist/TO" should really help organize things for this team's stars. It's quite the buy low for a player who arguably the best backup point guard in the league during his Denver days and is a 39.1% career three point shooter. Morris may not be a dynamic playmaker, but the career 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio that earned his nickname will really help a team that was 25th in turnover percentage.
Magic re-sign Wagner: 2 years, $22 million (Woj 7/2)
Between this, the Fischer report that Orlando are looking to renegotiate and extend Jonathan Isaac, and bringing back Bitadze and Harris, it feels like KCP is going to be their only big swing with cap space. This is a nice little raise for Wagner after they declined his $8,000,000 team option to apparently just tack on a year, and you have to wonder if it's a precursor to a Wendell Carter Jr. trade. He's on a very tradable contract, and they're investing a lot in other big men, especially if they do extend Isaac.
7/6 Update: Scotto adds that the second year is a team option again, and as I suspected in the Harris section, Smith confirms that Wagner is also getting a flat $11 million per season.
Pacers sign Wiseman: 2 year deal (Woj 7/2)
Cavaliers extend Mitchell: 3 years, $150.3 million (Woj 7/2)
This starting salary of the 30% max was the most that Cleveland could offer since Mitchell is not eligible for the 35% max. It is notable that he only agreed to a 2+1 deal rather than going for a full 4/$208 million extension that he could've done. This allows Mitchell to opt out when he has 10 years of experience so that he could potentially sign a 35% max with a higher salary cap in 2027, when he will be turning 31 that September. Like with Tatum's extension below, he'll be declining a $37,096,620 player option for next season in order to start this new deal as soon as possible.
Clippers sign Bamba: 1 year deal (Woj 7/1)
Clippers sign Dunn: no details yet (Haynes 7/1)
Compared to the other top reporters, Haynes has an annoying habit of tweeting about an agreement but not following up with any of the terms for a while, if at all (like with CP3 yesterday)...After seemingly using most of the MLE on Jones and BAE on Batum, there aren't a ton of avenues for L.A. to offer more than the minimum. I thought that Dunn might get more than that after his comeback season in Utah, so we'll have to see what the details are (possible sign-and-trade?)...if Haynes ever follows up.
Magic re-sign Harris: 2 years, $14 million (Woj 7/1)
Harris has a cap hold higher than this number, so they will either have to use some of their remaining ~$26 million in cap space for this or renounce his rights before re-signing with the Room MLE. In any case, this is a more than solid contract for the veteran wing given the balance of his injury history and production.
7/2 Update: Woj followed up that it's actually worth $15 million. Drastic difference, I know.
7/6 Update: Scotto reports that the second year is actually a team option, and there will be flat cap hits of $7.5 million. I should've known, given Orlando's history, and with future big deals coming up, Mo Wagner's contract likely will also be flat.
Raptors re-sign Temple: one year, minimum contract (Woj 7/1)
He's 38 years old now and only played 451 total minutes the past two seasons combined, but Temple is always regarded as a great locker room guy.
Magic re-sign Bitadze: 3 years, $25 million (Woj 7/1)
Celtics extend Tatum: 5 years, $314 million (Haynes 7/1)
That didn't take long after I wrote the White blurb earlier today. Haynes broke it as $315 million before Shams had the correct number of $314 based on this year's salary cap coming in slightly lower than expected, but either way, it's the largest contract in NBA history. Next year's cap is projected to go up to $154,647,000 (the maximum possible of 10%), and after making All-NBA each of the last three seasons, Tatum is eligible for a 35% max contract with 8% raises, which results in $313,933,410.
Rockets re-sign Holiday: 2 years, $10 million (Shams 7/1)
Warriors sign Melton: 1 year, $12.8 million (Shams 7/1)
This makes use of the Full MLE, which would hard-cap Golden State at the First Apron. This is a nice prove-it deal for Melton to try to hit the market again next summer because he got off to a strong start in Philadelphia, helping them begin the season 22-9 before a loss on December 30 when he started dealing with a back issue. He ended up only playing in 7 games after that, but if healthy, this could be a strong value for the 3-and-D guard who can provide secondary playmaking.
Clippers (re-)sign Batum: 2 years, $9.6 million (Woj 7/1)
This will surely be a Bi-Annual Exception signing based on this amount and after they used the MLE on Jones yesterday. Batum returns to the team where he rejuvenated his career before he had to be included in the aforementioned Harden trade, and while he can't carry a large role anymore at age 35, his passing, shooting, and defensive versatility makes him a helpful forward for any team.
7/9 Update: Scotto reports that the second year is a player option and that Batum also secured a 15% trade kicker to return to L.A.
Mavs sign-and-trade for Thompson: 3 years, $50 million (Woj 7/1)
Mavericks receive:
Hornets receive:
Warriors receive:
2025 2nd round pick (Lesser of Nuggets or 76ers)
2031 Mavericks 2nd round pick
It had been trending this way the last few days (again, Stein was all over his hometown Mavs' plans), but the surprise is that Charlotte is who ends up with Green instead of Golden State. It's also confusing that Woj reported that Thompson is getting a player option when sign-and-trades have to be for a minimum of 3 years before an option, so is it an option for a 4th year? In any case, Thompson reportedly turning down a 2 year, $48 million extension from the Warriors turned out to be a disaster as it affected both his on court play and his bank account. It's disappointing to see that a Golden State icon won't finish his career with one franchise, especially since it seems that he took their negotiating tactics so personally, but hopefully the hard feelings will go away by the end of the 34 year old's career whenever the team honors him as a core piece of four championships.
The deal isn't officially finalized yet as the Warriors still negotiate what their final return will be, and I'm guessing that they might try to loop in a fourth team to add a player rather than just add a Trade Exception that's the equivalent of Thompson's first year salary. Based on reported details so far, it seems that Dallas sending out Green could preserve the $16,193,183 TE that they're likely to create when trading away Hardaway and taking Grimes into their previous Davis Bertans TE. Charlotte is likely taking Green into cap space (after waiving Bertans' partial guarantee, coincidentally enough) at the cost of just two 2nd round picks, which is a very opportunistic addition as he enters the first year of his solid rookie extension. Green's made 39.3% of his threes the last two years (but only taken 4.2 per-36 in that span) and has subtle playmaking for a 3+D wing.
Update: Shams reports that the Warriors will end up getting two 2nd rounders in the deal, with Anthony Slater adding that one is the Mavs' 2031 pick, which in theory increases the upside since Luka Doncic might not be on the team by then, and the other is the least favorable of the Nuggets and 76ers in 2025, both of which the Hornets originally controlled. I really don't get why they wouldn't just take Green back instead since they have are currently about $17.9 million under the First Apron, and his salary would have more flexibility than the estimated $15,873,016 Trade Exception that they are receiving instead due to matching rules. Going barely into the tax during the summer would not be that prohibitive that they couldn't get out of it by February.
Celtics extend White: 4 years, $125.9 million (Woj 7/1)
Even with the new CBA bumping up the starting salaries of extensions to 140% of the last year, I wasn't sure that this would get done due to White having such a team friendly number this season that it limited Boston to only being able to offer this. Winning a championship can help convince a guy, though, and I will never fault a player for taking the guaranteed money now. This is obviously huge for the Celtics to secure him into the future like the rest of their core (I'd expect Jayson Tatum's 5 year, $314 million max extension to come soon enough this summer), and on a lighter note, it's a nice gift to White a day before his 30th birthday.
Bucks sign Wright: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 7/1)
Update: Eric Nehm confirmed that Woj slightly misreported this.
This is almost assuredly the Room MLE based on the reported total, which means that it will come after using up there cap space, of which Drummond's smaller deal below will be be cutting out a sliver of. Making it a 1+1 type of deal could allow Oubre to sign a bigger contract next year when they would have Early Bird Rights compared to the Non-Bird Rights this year after he had to settle for a minimum contract.
Unless this turns out to be a sign-and-trade, it will most likely come out of the MLE, so I guess they won't be using it to bring back Derrick Jones Jr., after all. Either way, it would also hard-cap them at the First Apron, but this feels like a great value signing for the 26 year old wing.
I could see this being front-loaded given where Washington is in their rebuild and how they've structured some past deals. Either way, it could fit into the full MLE as they look for an interior offensive hub and don't rush #2 pick, Alex Sarr.
7/6 Update: Josh Robbins reports that this will end up being a sign-and-trade into the $9,800,926 Monte Morris Trade Exception, and Scotto adds that in addition to a 2027 Bulls 2nd (protected 31-50) going back to New Orleans, the third year of this contract is non-guaranteed. Although the Pels probably won't see that pick, they create a new TE equal to Valanciunas' starting salary by cooperating here. Fitting this into the existing TE rules out the deal being front-loaded, but it does preserve Washington's MLE. They're still hard-capped at the First Apron from this acquisition (and the Avdija trade returning more salary) as they would be by using the MLE.
Like with Jordan below, Len will earn $3.3 million while counting for just the veteran minimum against the cap.
There wasn't a reported figure, but I'm projecting that Phoenix is using Non-Bird rights to give Bol 120% of his minimum salary as a five-year veteran. The skilled 24 year old (who is 7'0.75" yet annoyingly always referred to as 7'3") continued to show flashes with impressive per-36 minute averages of 17.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, and 0.9 steals with 61.6%/42.3%/78.9% shooting, yet he's never earned his coaches' trust for a steady role. If new head coach Mike Budenholzer can unlock Bol's immense potential, then Phoenix would have Early Bird Rights to reward him with a bigger contract next summer.
Hawks receive:
2025 Raptors 2nd round pick2028 Heat 2nd round pick 2028 2nd round pick (Lesser of Clippers or Hornets)
#14 pick in 20242029 1st round pick (second-best of Bucks, Celtics, or Trail Blazers) 2028 and 2030 2nd round picks (per Jake Fischer)
2025 Bucks 1st round pick (protected 1-4)
Timberwolves re-sign Garza: "two-year deal" (Woj 7/1)
Since there aren't any details out there yet, I'm projecting just a minimum contract for the three year veteran who has mostly been on Two-Way contracts to this point.
7/7 Update: Scotto reports that it is $4.51 million total as I projected and adds that the second year is a player option.
Jazz sign Eubanks: 2 years, $10 million (Woj 7/1)
Like the Drummond contract of similar terms, the veteran big man could be signed using cap space or a part of the Room MLE. There's surprisingly been some rumblings that Walker Kessler could be available in trades for the right price, so while Eubanks isn't nearly the same shot-blocker as him, he is a decent depth piece to have.
8/12 Update: Now that the signing is finally official (Utah waited until the Markkanen business was done before committing cap space), Scotto reports that it's actually for $9.75 million with the second year non-guaranteed and Smith provided details on the structure. That makes the deal worth slightly more than the BAE, and since it was signed using cap space, they still have all of the Room MLE to use.
Pistons (re-)sign Harris: 2 years, $52 million (Woj 7/1)
Having played in Detroit from February of 2016 to February of 2019 between a couple of trade deadline deals, there was always a sense that Harris would look to return to the Pistons and their boat load of cap space this summer, especially once it became clear that his relationship with Philadelphia had run its course. Turning 32 this month, it's somewhat of an odd fit on a rebuilding team, but they are desperate to turn things around after finishing with the worst record in back to back seasons. Adding a veteran scorer on just a short-term deal to help take the pressure off of their young players isn't the worst thing in the world as long as he doesn't take away too many shots, and they should still have about $25 million of room to play with, even when counting Simone Fontecchio's small cap hold.
Thunder sign Hartenstein: 3 years, $87 million (Shams 7/1)
Whew, I mentioned last week after the Bridges deal that New York was limited to offering 4 years, $72.5 million due to only having Early Bird Rights, and Hartenstein absolutely blew that out of the water in this union with OKC that had been rumored (I think by Fischer and Scotto) for a month or two. The 26 year old big man gets more total money while also hitting free agency again in just three years, so this is quite the boon after only making about $22.6 million in his career up to this point. This should just about use up all of the Thunder's cap space before they go over the cap for the Joe and Wiggins deals below, and like them, I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up having a structure with declining money (or just flat cap hips) to coincide better with when new contracts for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams kick in come 2026. They still have the Room MLE to use on someone with a solid margin below the luxury tax still, as well.
The fit with Holmgren will be interesting to watch since OKC going with a five out approach, often with undersized lineups, was so key to their deadly offense that ranked 3rd in efficiency thanks to pristine spacing. Hartenstein has made some threes in the past, mainly in his breakout '21-22 season with the Clippers, but operating out of the high post and utilizing the dribble handoff game is more likely where he fits on offense. Of course, the real value that he'll bring is on the boards as he has a total rebounding rate of 17.2%, defensive rebounding rate of 22.7%, and offensive rebounding rate of 14.4%, which has translated to 11.3 total rebounds per-36 minutes. Although the Thunder had the 4th best defensive rating last year, getting killed on the glass was their main weakness with a paltry 69.8% defensive rebounding rate that ranked 27th in the league, and they were also only 28th in offensive rebounding.
Especially if Hartenstein can make shots like that to end the half 😂
— Dave Giovanazzi (@SF_DavidGio) May 7, 2024
He made 14/30 in his one year with the Clips; but he’s only taken 42 (with 10 makes now) total in two years with the Knicks https://t.co/jIOkOe7ovX
Update: Stefan Bondy reports that this deal is indeed front-loaded, which uses up all of OKC's remaing cap space, and the last year actually isn't guaranteed. I'm guessing that it will be a team option so that they could potentially decline it and then re-sign him to a smaller number in that season when Holmgren and Williams have new contracts.
Bulls sign Smith: 3 years, $27 million (Woj 7/1)
Just like the Marshall deal yesterday for this same total, this is likely the MLE being used. I guess teams are offering slight more than the 3/$25.1M that the Room MLE tops out at, and this is a nice pay bump for Smith after declining his $5,417,386 player option. He improved to 42.4% on threes last season while taking 5 per-36 minutes and maintaining his strong rebounding rate of 18.2% (24.3% on defensive rebounds). A stretch big can help any bench unit, and Chicago was lacking bodies in the front court before this.
Thunder re-sign Joe: 4 years, $48 million (Shams 7/1)
Thunder re-sign Wiggins: 5 years, $47 million (Shams 7/1)
I'm just going to combine these two write ups since the news came 5 minutes apart, and they work in tandem. After turning down the cheap team options of $2,164,993 for Joe and $1,988,598 for Wiggins, the play was to agree to a long-term contract that increases their cap hits now to smooth it out in future years when their young stars will have extensions kick on, just like their Lu Dort deal a couple of years ago.
If they just picked up those options and added the $45.8 million and $45 million in new money over three and four year extensions, respectively, the cap hits with standard 8% raises would have been $14,146,607/$15,278,336/$16,410,064 and $10,047,188/$10,850,963/$11,654,738/$12,458,513. While it is not a huge difference, every little bit helps once you approach the tax line, and I wonder if they might even structure these to have the money front-loaded. The really nice thing is that declining the team options to set this up still only left similarly small cap holds, so they use up their cap space before exceeding the cap just like with Maxey and Philly below.
7/10 Update: Scotto reports that both Joe's and Wiggins' deals do have declining money like I speculated, and there are team options on the last years again. Furthermore, the latter's contract is actually for $45 million with $2 million in potential bonuses. This is what the contracts might look like, and OKC could potentially do something similar with the team options down the line if they earn an extensions.
76ers re-sign Maxey: 5 years, $204 million (Woj 7/1)
Don't need to spend too much time here after getting carried away with the novel below on Philly late last night. As mentioned, they will use up all of their cap space while keeping his small $13 million cap hold on the books, and then make this (and Oubre with the Room MLE) official with the 25% max that was the most that Maxey was eligible for. This year's Most Improved Player award winner doesn't turn 24 until November, so he'll only be 28 when it's time for another payday.
If the 76ers move on from Paul Reed's non-guaranteed $7,723,000 salary, either via trade or waiver, they could have about $9.2 million left to work with depending on the number Reed's replacement, Drummond, ends up at. Some of their own free agents, namely KJ Martin, also have small enough cap holds to hold onto for a potential re-signing or sign-and-trade elsewhere, although Base Year Compensation might make things complication.
76ers sign George: 4 years, $211.6 million (Woj 7/1)
This was the way it's been trending since George officially opted out on Saturday, despite Shams' report to contrary last week, and now it's finally been confirmed...at 3:30 am Philadelphia time. Although he's 34, I don't really get why the Clippers drew such a hard line in the sand on offering a fourth year since his salary this season would have them in the Second Apron either way, but their loss is the 76ers gain. I really thought that he would choose to stay close to home in the end, and Tim Kawakami reported that there was mutual interest between George and the Warriors up the coast before the Clips determined an opt-in and trade wasn't worth the returning salary for them.
Instead, signing a 30% max contract outright provides the All-NBA wing with about $62 million more guaranteed money than what L.A. gave Leonard in his 3/$150M extension, and it's only about $9 million less than the max that he could've gotten if they had offered it. His fit between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid looks ideal on paper with his two-way ability as a star who can operate both on the ball or off of it. George made a career-high 41.3% of his threes last year while launching 7.9 per game, and he's a 38.5% career shooter who should feast on open looks created by his new teammates. While he averaged 4.5 assists over the last five years with the Clippers as one of the primary playmakers, he likely won't be relied upon as much in that role as a Sixer, which should help him age gracefully into the back end of his 30's.
Those assist numbers dropped to 3.5 this past season as the ball was in James Harden's hands more upon his arrival in L.A., and there's definitely some irony that George is now going to The Beard's former team. This turn of events means that Philly will likely enjoy the fruits of that trade even more now because they control the 2028 and 2029 1st round picks of a team that they just severely weakened. Daryl Morey planned for this exact type of scenario when he was adamant about not taking back future salary in any Harden trade or deadline deals, and now they executed the plan to maximize cap space with Maxey's small $13 million rookie scale cap hold on the books before giving him a 25% max contract. Coincidentally, it reminds me of when the Spurs held off on extending Leonard in the fall of 2014 so that they could sign LaMarcus Aldridge in the summer of 2015.
As a side note, George can no longer be PG13 for the same reason that Harden had to wear #1 in Philly: #13 is retired for Wilt Chamberlain. George's original number, #24, is also retired for Bobby Jones, so I noticed that Woj's tweet had an image with #8. That would make sense since I believe Kobe Bryant was the inspiration for #24 back in the day, and #8 of course was his original number.
76ers re-sign Oubre: 2 years, $16.3 million (Woj 6/30)
Clippers sign Jones: 3 years, $30 million (Shams 6/30)
That didn't take long. It wasn't hard to connect the dots between the Marshall deal in Dallas and Jones' departure, and not long after Stein reported L.A. as a possibility for him, Shams said it is happening. After the Clips released the unusual statement that George will be departing, they pivoted quickly with the likely use of the MLE here that will hard-cap them at the First Apron, which they are about $15 million away from right now. I guess they were impressed by DJJ's performance in the first round series against them.
Mavs sign Marshall: 3 years, $27 million (Woj 6/30)
Suns sign Mason Plumlee: 1 year, minimum contract (Woj 6/30)
Woj only reported it as a "one-year deal," but the minimum is literally all that Phoenix could offer as a Second Apron team. As a veteran with over 10 years of experience, he'll earn $3,303,771 with one of the teams that his brother Miles previously played for. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, also happens to be the father of Suns CEO, Josh Bartelstein. It's also funny because Plumlee was once traded for the center that he'll now backup, Jusuf Nurkic.
Wizards sign Valanciunas: 3 years, $30 million (Woj 6/30)
Spurs sign Paul: 1 year, $11 million (Haynes with the news, Woj the details 6/30)
The news on contract details coming in this slow compared to past offseasons is not fun. What will be fun: CP3 lobs to Victor Wembanyama. Kudos to Marc Stein for calling this potential link up between Paul and his former Team USA coach, Gregg Popovich. It's a bit surprising that the veteran point guard decided on this route so quickly into free agency instead of pursuing a ring with a contender, but he solves a big need for them. I outlined at the bottom of this post how much better the team played with a real point guard in Tre Jones, so just imagine what adding one of the best floor generals of all time will do for them.
Update: It's just a one year deal for less than the MLE, so this is a great deal for San Antonio to help their young team develop. Keldon Johnson could especially benefit...because he'll likely get a nice check to give up the #3.
76ers sign Gordon: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
No details yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is for the minimum to try to ring chase like his deal with Phoenix last year.
Update: Kelly Iko reports that it will be one year for $3.3 million, which means that it is the minimum with the league paying the difference between that and the cap hit above. That means that it can become official after they use up all of their cap space first.
7/10 Update: Scotto reports that Gordon actually got another 1+1 deal, which means his cap hit will count as his actual salary. This certainly won't stop the jokes about Morey being obsessed with his former Rockets guys.
Pistons to extend Cunningham: 5 years, $224 million (Shams 6/30)
Shams reported it as $226 million, but I'm pretty sure it will end up at this number due to the salary cap only able to increase by 10% to $154.6 million next year. Combine that with a 25% max salary and 8% raises, and this is the result. Notably, it would appear that this doesn't include Designated Player language, meaning that Cunningham won't get a 30% max if he somehow qualified for it. Given the former #1 overall pick's health issues in the past and that Detroit had the worst record in the league, that makes sense.
7/9 Update: Woj reports that the deal is now done, and in addition to the $224 million figure I cited above (no idea what Shams was saying with $226), it turns out that the former #1 pick is eligible for it to become a $269 million deal like with draftmates Scottie Barnes and Franz Wagner. I don't think it's likely at all that Cunningham will make an All-NBA team to trigger that, but it's now something to watch for.
Magic sign Caldwell-Pope: 3 years, $66 million (Zillgit with the news, Woj the details 6/30)
Turning down his $15,440,185 player option was definitely the right call as KCP capitalizes on being the best 3-and-D role player on the market to become Orlando's highest paid player for the upcoming season. His shooting should be a huge boon for them and will be a big loss for a Denver team that doesn't have many options to replace him with their tax situation.
The Magic do still have some flexibility left for another signing, but I would guess that this takes them out of the PG13 sweepstakes after being a dark horse for him.
Clippers sign Porter: 2 year deal (Shams 6/30)
Projecting the minimum here given the legal issues that kept Porter out of the league last year.
76ers sign Drummond: 2 years, $10+ million (Scotto 6/30)
It took over an hour into free agency, but we finally have a player changing teams! And it's a real blockbuster, I know, with the veteran big man going back to where he's played previously. Philadelphia could fit this into part of the Room MLE to preserve their cap space if needed.
Celtics re-sign Queta: "multiyear deal" (Shams 6/30)
Like with Kornet, I'm projecting the minimum here due to them being so deep into the tax. Since it's for multiple years, it will count as the actual salary rather than a subsidized cap hit.
7/7 Update: Scotto reports that it's for $7.18 million over three years with a "significant" partial guarantee in the second year and a team option on the third. So it is for his minimum in each season, but Boston used Non-Bird Rights and a strong guaranteed amount in order to gain control of his age 25-27 seasons. It's reminiscent of how they locked up Sam Hauser following the conversion of his Two-Way.
Heat to re-sign Love: 2 years, $8 million (Shams 6/30)
After declining his $4,027,525 player option, Love ends up tacking on an extra year at about the same salary.
Celtics to re-sign Kornet: 1 year deal (Woj 6/30)
I think it's pretty likely that this is just for the minimum.
Clippers to re-sign Harden: 2 years, $70 million (Shams 6/30)
With this deal now in tow, L.A. would definitely be a Second Apron team if they are able to re-sign Paul George. As it stands, they project to be about $17 million below the luxury tax with 10 players under contract. If they do lose PG13, doing a 1+1 deal with Harden getting somewhat of a high average salary like this could give them some flexibility for next summer, when they only have Kawhi Leonard, Norman Powell, and Kobe Brown under contract as of now.
Lakers to re-sign Christie: 4 years, $32 million (Woj 6/30)
Getting about the equivalent of the Room MLE from another team and having the last year as a player option is a nice coup for the former 2nd round pick. This could complicate the Lakers' plans to use the full MLE that would trigger a hard-cap, even with LeBron James taking a potential paycut.
Pacers to re-sign Toppin: 4 years, $60 million (Woj 6/30)
Returning on a salary that starts just about the MLE feels fair after Toppin's strong postseason off the bench. As a fan of Jarace Walker's potential, I don't love the logjam up front now, but they can figure that out later. Depending on where the salary cap officially comes in, and thus where the max contracts Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton end up, Indiana should be about $7 million below the luxury tax line after this.
Kings re-sign Len: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Bulls to re-sign Patrick Williams: 5 years, $90 million (Shams 6/29)
I thought that Williams might be a restricted free agent who could potentially be had after he and Chicago were unable to reach a rookie extension last fall and they drafted another upside forward, Matas Buzelis, on Wednesday. Instead, they committed to each other for four years (with the fifth a player option, Jamal Collier reports) with a salary that could start just a little bit above the MLE and an $18 million average salary in this rising cap environment. And the former #4 overall pick still doesn't turn 23 until the end of August, so his prime is still ahead.
His stats have held remarkably steadily so far in his young career, and with some changes coming to the roster this year (Giddey brought in, DeMar DeRozan a free agent, and Zach LaVine on the trade block), perhaps his usage will increase. He is a 41% career three-point shooter but on only 3.4 attempts per game each of the last two years, and while his defensive potential is intriguing, his rebounding has been lacking for someone who often plays power forward. If he continues to build on those strengths, though, his long-term fit with Giddey, Buzelis, and Coby White could be compelling. In the short term, this should leave them about $22.8 million below the luxury tax while they still negotiate with DeRozan.
Nuggets re-sign DeAndre Jordan: 1 year, minimum contract (Haynes 6/29)
Chris Haynes reported this as a "$3.6 million contract," but I'm projecting the minimum salary for players with 10+ years of experience like Jordan to be worth about $3.3 million with the NBA subsidizing the cap his to the above number. Surely Denver, with all of their luxury tax concerns, aren't using Non-Bird Rights on a backup who hardly plays.
Suns to re-sign Bol: "one year deal" (Woj 6/29)
Wizards re-sign Holmes: 2 years, $25.9 million (Shams 6/29)
This is a little bit of an odd one as Holmes declined his $12,876,780 as a part of this move, and reportedly only $250,000 of the second season is guaranteed. So it seems like he's getting about the same amount in guaranteed money but with basically a non-guaranteed second season added on to give Washington more optionality. Based on the reported total salary, the structure could've been $12,451,923 and $13,448,077, but Shams reported the second season as $13.3 million.
Update: Keith Smith and others have since reported that this ended up being an opt-in and extension, which makes a little more sense. That distinction instead of being a new contract means that Holmes could be traded at any point, and lowering this year's salary ever so slight makes it eligible to fit into the MLE, which can be used as a Trade Exception now. I'm estimating that it was lowered by exactly the $250,000 that's guaranteed in year two, and from Holmes' perspective, adding the new, mostly non-guaranteed year gives him at least a chance of earning the same salary despite his decline in play.
Suns re-sign O'Neale: 4 years, $44 million (Woj 6/29)
This was expected ever since Phoenix traded for the 3-and-D wing, and the only question was how the deal would be structured. Due to them being so firmly into the Second Apron, there was no way to replace O'Neale with anyone for more than the minimum, so he had all of the leverage. Going out to four years despite him having just turned 31 helps lower the cap hit with their tax bill, and the former G League discovery more than doubles his career earnings to this point. It's a win-win after O'Neale continued his solid play after the trade with averages of 8.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists (against 0.7 turnovers), 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks in just 25.1 minutes while making 37.6% of his 5.2 attempts from deep.
7/6 Update: Gozlan reports that this is actually worth $42 million with an additional $500,000 available in unlikely incentives each season. When you're as deep into the Second Apron as they are, that distinction is worth over $2 million for this season's tax bill.
New Orleans finally lands Murray (Woj first, Shams with the return 6/28)
Pelicans receive:
2025 Lakers 1st round pick
2027 1st round pick (Lesser of Bucks or Pelicans)
There was talk at the trade deadline, I think first reported by Jake Fischer, about these teams being close to a deal for Murray then, and now they got it over the finish line. My immediate reaction is to wonder whether this is a prelude to another Hawks trade with one of their big men, likely Clint Capela, and how this might affect any potential Brandon Ingram trades for the Pelicans. They are perilously thin in the front court now after dealing Nance and with Jonas Valanciunas heading to free agency, so I wonder if they re-engage the Cavaliers about long-time target Jarrett Allen.
The back court fit could work with Murray's length on defense and improved shooting (35.5% as a Hawk while increasing his attempts to 5.2 and then 7.1 these last two years) to complement CJ McCollum and help set up Zion Williamson. I have them now about $6 million away from the luxury tax line with 13 players rostered, so a trade does seem to be their best option for a big man, although they've used up most of their extra picks from the Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday trades.
Conversely, Atlanta is now safely clear of the tax between this and their Griffin move yesterday, which likely played into their somewhat light return here. They are lacking their own 1st rounders in 2025 and 2027 from the original Murray trade, so this helps make them whole in those years to a certain extent. And Daniels is certainly still an intriguing prospect who is only 21 years old. I just wouldn't classify the former #8 pick as the typical centerpiece of a big trade like this given that his strengths are mostly on defense without much playmaking yet. Hopefully he'll get more opportunity to shine now with less competition for minutes. Nance has proven to be a very useful player when healthy, and that should continue in the last year of his deal, either for Atlanta or elsewhere if he ends up as the big dealt.
Unlike some other trades, I'd expect this one to actually become official before the new league turns over on July 1st so that they'll work off of Murray's $18,214,000 salary rather than the higher number in his extension. Yossi Gozlan also added on Twitter that he has a $12.1 million trade kicker (to be paid by Atlanta) that will add $3 million to his cap hits above in each of the four years unless it's waived.
Update: Andrew Lopez reports that EJ Liddell is also part of the trade, which would allow this completed in either league year by my math, and I like Atlanta taking a flier on him after his development was stalled by a summer league knee injury.
7/6 Update: The deal actually had to wait until now or else New Orleans would've ended up in the luxury tax for the last league year, which I overlooked, and because of that, more salary had to be added. Keith Smith reports that Cody Zeller will be sign-and-traded to accomplish this, which I added above. I'm pretty confident that the last two years of the required three-year pact for a sign-and-trade will be non-guaranteed, but good for Zeller getting over $3 million guaranteed to help get this deal finalized.
Dallas opens flexibility in Detroit deal (Woj 6/28)
Pistons receive:
Mavericks receive:
Marc Stein was all over this possibility in his reporting this week, and it almost made too much sense not to happen. Since Dallas only signed Derrick Jones Jr. to a one-year minimum last year, there was virtually no way that they could re-sign him at his market rate with just Non-Bird Rights and will likely have to use the full $12.8 million MLE to do so. That would hard-cap them at the First Apron, so this swap of former Knicks at the cost of three 2nd rounders gives them plenty of more breathing room under that barrier.
Grimes is also eight years younger than Hardaway and theoretically fits better next to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving as a 3-and-D wing this year before heading to restricted free agency next summer. Injury caused him to barely play in Detroit after headlining the return from their Knicks trade at the deadline, and now new management is sending him out as they continue to leverage cap space for draft equity like in yesterday's Wolves trade. They didn't have a 2nd in next year's draft prior to this, and I believe that Dallas only controls one of their 2nd rounders outright over the next seven drafts after this. Woj only specified the 2025 pick with just the year for the other two, but given that these are the only 2028 2nds that they had, I feel safe listing them here.
Raptors to re-sign Immanuel Quickley: 5 years, $175 million (Shams 6/28)
With Bruce Brown's team option still no officially pick up, Toronto could be operating as a team over the cap or as a cap space team, and if the latter, they could wait to make this official until after using up all of their room. Quickley only has a $12,514,644 cap hold in restricted free agency, so they could up to around $18 million to use first before he counts as this number. I think it's more likely that they keep Brown for a potential trade and just use the MLE that projects to be about $12.8 million, but it's nice to have optionality.
Between this and the Barnes extension, the Raptors have secured their main playmakers going forward. Quickley averaged 18.6 points, 6.8 assists (against 1.8 turnovers), 4.8 rebounds, and 0.9 steals in 33.3 minutes with 42.2%/39.5%/84.1% shooting after the midseason trade, and he just turned 25 this month. This might've been a bit higher than what most expected, but with the rising cap, the back-end of this deal won't feel too expensive.
7/8 Update: The contract has now been signed, and per Josh Lewenberg, it will be a flat $35 million each season. Going with this structure puts them pretty close to the luxury tax, but it will help them in the out years, especially with the rising cap. It was already leaning this way, but a non-playoff team getting this expensive means that the door is likely closed on re-signing Gary Trent Jr.
7/9 Update: Scotto reports that Quickley actually only has $162.5 million guaranteed with the other $12.5 million coming in potential bonuses, which certainly changes things.
Nuggets salary dump Jackson (Woj 6/27)
Hornets receive:
2025, 2029, and 2030 2nd round picks
Nuggets receive:
Cash Considerations
The funny thing is that Jackson was also traded to the Hornets at the 2023 Trade Deadline when the Clippers added Mason Plumlee before he was bought out and joined the Nuggets for the championship run. He then got a surprising two year deal from Denver in free agency, and after he opted into that second year, he's traded again to reduce their luxury tax bill.
Between this and last night's draft trade, I don't think they control any of their future 2nd rounders.
Nuggets are "working toward" extending Murray: 4 years, $209 million (Shams 6/27)
Like with the Barnes max extension below, the actual figures won't be known until next year when the new salary cap is set, but this projection is based on this season's expected $141 million salary cap increasing by the highest possible rate of 10%. And then 30% of that $155,100,000 cap results in this starting salary with 8% raises. It's no surprise that Denver would lock up their second-best player as soon as possible, even with how expensive their roster is becoming, and now their attention can turn towards Aaron Gordon and the player option that he has for 2025-26.
Sacramento sheds salary via Toronto (Woj 6/27)
Raptors receive:
#45 pick
2025 Blazers 2nd round pick
Kings receive:
Like with Griffin below, Sacramento basically drafted Mitchell's replacement last night with Devin Carter, who may not be as feisty of an on-ball defender but has way more versatility with his length and shooting. Vezenkov didn't have the consistent impact that he or the Kings were hoping for when they brought him over from Europe last year, and there was even a report earlier this month that he wanted to go back already. Instead, the Kings attach a draft pick to send him and Mitchell out and ensure that they stay out of the luxury tax after the Monk re-signing below.
Toronto has some flexibility under the tax line to add this little bit of salary (likely with part of the Siakam Trade Exception if they stay over the cap) while also sending out one of their disappointing free agent signings from last summer. Now they have two picks in the top half of the 2nd round this afternoon as they continue to retool their team.
Update: Sean Cunningham added that the Raptors are also getting a 2nd round pick next year as the cherry on top.
Houston makes nice buy low addition (Woj 6/27)
Rockets receive:
Hawks receive:
#44 pick
Between this and Moore, it's a tough day to be a 2022 1st rounder from Duke. Griffin, whose dad was the brief head coach of the Bucks this past season, had a solid rookie season as the #16 pick when he averaged 8.9 points in 19.5 minutes across 72 games with 46.5%/39%/89.4% shooting. He was totally buried last year with just 20 appearances, though, and his stats totally fell off. I guess he just never fit what Quin Snyder wanted to do after taking over towards the end of that first season, and Atlanta needed to shed salary somewhere as they projected to be over the luxury tax line for a mediocre team. They also just drafted his replacement #1 overall last night, so there's that.
Of all the teams that could've bought low on Griffin, I wouldn't have guessed that it would be Houston given all of the young players, particularly on the perimeter, that they have on the roster already, but I love the pickup. I'm guessing that they used the $4,510,000 Trade Exception created from last year's Kevin Porter Jr. trade to absorb this contract.
Golden State picks up a cheap wing (Fischer 6/27)
Warriors receive:
Thunder receive:
#52 pick
This is a bit of a surprise since the Dubs have talked about potentially wanting to stay under the luxury tax this season to eventually reset the repeater penalty and Waters makes about a million more than what a 2nd round pick would cost. He's also about to turn 27 and will be an unrestricted free agent next year compared to a cost controlled rookie, but I guess they preferred a depth piece with some experience over a late pick in this weak draft, which is fair. Update: Golden State ended up buying the 52nd pick from Portland after OKC traded it to them to move up, so that worked out nicely.
At 6'6" and with a reported 6'9" wingspan, Waters brings a long history of shooting well in college, the G League, and the NBA. He's a 37.7% career shooter in the league while attempting 11.1 per-36 minutes and also making 81.5% of his free throws. It will be interesting to see how he might do in an expanded role since the rest of his per-36 averages are also solid: 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists (against 0.9 turnovers), 1.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks.
The fact that OKC converted him from a Two-Way contract, declined his team option, re-signed him to another Two-Way, and converted him again did have me moderately intrigued by him in the past. That's also what makes this a surprising move from their side, but they did lack a 2nd rounder in this draft and just traded five away in the first round last night for the #26 pick. Maybe they felt the need for a little more cap space and/or the roster spot and will just take a draft-and-stash prospect with the pick today.
Minnesota sheds salary via Detroit (Shams 6/27)
Pistons receive:
#37 pick
Timberwolves receive:
#53 pick
Pretty straightforward salary dump here with Detroit adding both the player and the better pick. Moore was the 26th pick just two years ago and was supposed to be a "ready now" prospect after three years at Duke, but he's played just 228 total minutes so far in his career. Easy business for the Pistons to leverage their hoard of draft space to move into the top of the 2nd round today while taking a flier on a player who turns 23 in training camp. For the Wolves, this opens up a roster spot for a minimum contract that will be slightly cheaper for their luxury tax bill.
Nets re-sign Claxton: 4 years, $96M (Shams 6/26)
Woj had the news first and reported it as $100 million, but Shams said right afterwards that it's $100 million with $96 million guaranteed, which I'm going with here as the "true" number. Brooklyn may be undergoing a big rebuild, but they couldn't just let a talent like Claxton walk out the door for nothing. With his defensive versatility, this should be a tradable enough contract down the line if it comes to that.
7/6 Update: Now that the deal is official, Scotto reports that it's $97 million guaranteed with up to $3 million in bonuses, and smartly, that it has a declining structure to help with future flexibility.
Portland make surprising swap with Washington (Woj 6/26)
Trail Blazers receive:
Wizards receive:
There had been a part of me wondering if Washington might float Avdija in trade talks despite him just entering the first year of his extension that looks like a bargain, but I expected a contender to be who went after him rather than a fellow bottom-dweller like Portland. The Blazers are including one of the picks that they ended up with after trading Damian Lillard along with a key veteran from those moves, Brogdon, so this could be considered an extension of that return. Only 23, I think Avdija is worth it, but it just surprising to see a team that went 21-61 send out draft assets like this, even if they do still have the #7 pick tonight.
The Wizards are fully committed to their rebuild, of course, which is reportedly why Alex Sarr declined the chance to work out for the team with the #1 pick and is content with going 2nd to them tonight. I'd expect Brogdon to be flipped yet again given that he's 31 and now in the last year of his contract, and ideally for more picks down the line since they now have #2, #14, #26, and #51 tonight. You'd also think that Kyle Kuzma could potentially be on the move next given the demand for him in the past.
Knicks re-sign Anunoby: 5 years, $212.5 million (Woj 6/26)
As a seven year veteran, Anunoby's maximum starting salary was $42,300,000 (based on current cap projections) with New York able to offer as much as $245 million over five years while any other team could offer 4 years for $182 million. This structure, with a player option on the 5th year, appears pretty fair at first glance, with the ace defender locking in more guaranteed money overall but "only" getting around $164 million over the first four years. And for what it's worth, Begley reports that there was a max offer out there.
As things stand, the Knicks are right below the First Apron that they're hard-capped at like I mentioned below, so it's increasingly likely that Hartenstein will head elsewhere unless they clear salary elsewhere.
Heat extend Adebayo: 3 years, $166 million (Shams 6/26)
Finally Shams is on the board with breaking news this offseason. There's a lot of projecting going on here since this extension won't kick in until the 2026-2027 season, but assuming the highest possible cap raises of 10% each year, this is what the 30% max ix expected to be for Adebayo. Based on the language of the reporting, it doesn't appear that they agreed on this getting bumped up to the 35% max if he became eligible for it by making All-NBA, winning DPOY, or winning MVP, so that could explain why it got done so far ahead of time.
Brooklyn prepares for rebuild with Houston deal (Woj 6/25)
Nets receive:
Control of their 2025 1st round pick
2026 Nets 1st round pick
Rockets receive:
Right to swap 2025 1st round picks (Rockets or Thunder for Suns)
2027 Suns 1st round pick
2029 1st round pick (Better of Mavericks or Suns)
Right to swap 2029 1st round picks (Rockets for lesser of Mavericks or Suns)
This is a somewhat of a high price to pay, but it sets up Brooklyn with control of their picks in the next two drafts so that they can take a long-term view in the wake of the trade below. Next year's class projects to be miles ahead of tomorrow's draft with Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey among the headliners, and now the Nets can tank without fear of losing the rights to yet another top-3 pick like this year (and 2016...and 2017).
On the one hand, Houston is giving up a good amount of short-term upside with Brooklyn likely to be bad now, but on the other, they're receiving basically double the assets back here. Betting against the win-now Suns and Mavericks could pay off handsomely down the line, and Woj intriguingly added that the Rockets are interested in dangling these picks back to Phoenix for Kevin freaking Durant. Coach Ime Udoka was an assistant on both the Nets and Team USA with KD, so it's no surprise that they might want to make another immediate upgrade like last summer, even if the Suns aren't interested at the moment.
New York and Brooklyn agree to rare cross-town trade to complete the Nova Knicks (Woj 6/25)
Knicks receive:
2026 2nd round pick (Least favorable of Bucks, Magic, or Pistons)
Draft rights to Juan Pablo Vaulet (#39 pick in 2015)
Nets receive:
2025 2nd round pick
Right to swap 2028 1st round picks
Wow, it really happened. Former Nets executive and current ESPN analyst Bobby Marks had talked before about how these two franchises had not made a trade with each other in over 40 years, so I never truly expected Brooklyn to send their highly sought-after best player across the way to New York despite the obvious Villanova connection with Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart.
The Knicks made them the Godfather offer, though, with the most unprotected picks that they could send out along with the most lightly protected of the three extra 1st rounders that they have next year while also returning Bogdanovic, who started his career as a Net and could likely be flipped elsewhere for even more assets. His contract only had $2 million guaranteed but will become fully guaranteed now to facilitate the move. There haven't been any details on the 2025 2nd round pick yet, but I'm guessing it is the Nets pick that the Knicks owned. Getting control of that pick that could end up in the 30's, combined with the immediate follow up trade above, could make a painful rebuild a bit easier to swallow. I'm also guessing that the 2026 2nd that Brooklyn is sending back is the worst of Detroit's, Milwaukee's, or Orlando's rather than their own.
This won't be able to become official until the new league year next week as it will include the first 2031 pick to be traded, and as it stands, New York will become hard-capped at the First Apron due to receiving a higher contract than they're sending out. That could make things complicated when trying to re-sign OG Anunobdy and Isaiah Hartenstein, and given how Anunoby and Bridges fulfill similar roles as elite 3-and-D wings, you have to wonder if contract discussions have stalled. Everyone knows that Nick Nurse would love to have his former Raptor back with him in Philly, and they've been hoarding cap space to give a max contract to someone...New York is limited by Early Bird Rights to only being able to offer Hartenstein a starting salary of $16,178,962 for a total of about $72.5 million over four years, so it could be tough to offer him a market deal. If this trade ends up expanding before becoming official with the Knicks sending more money out, then they could potentially avoid having to deal with the First Apron, so that's something else to watch for.
Update: Apparently Bridges requested this reunion with his buddies, according to Ian Begley, so that could have gotten the ball rolling on this blockbuster, although Jake Fischer refutes that. We'll see what other deals come about with the veteran players on their roster, but between this move and the original deal that brought in Bridges, you could view their Durant trade last year as one that has resulted in NINE first round picks with almost no protections, two 1st round pick swaps, Cameron Johnson, and Bogdanovic so far.
7/6 Update: Now that the deal is official, I added the Milton/Diakite/Bates-Diop inclusion above along with a new detail from the press release: Brooklyn also sent the draft rights to Juan Pablo Vaulet. The 2015 draft pick is 28 years old now, has had his draft rights moved a couple of times the last couple of years now, and may never come over from Spain, but if he ever does, New York controls his rights. The press release also confirms that the 2nd rounders involved are the ones that I suspected last week, with the Nets getting their 2025 pick that's likely to be in the 30's being an important note.
Mikal Bridges joining the rest of the Villanova Knicks https://t.co/vVyY0j5ro9 pic.twitter.com/VHj5EDRGML
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) June 26, 2024
Raptors to extend Barnes at the max: 5 years, "up to" $270 million (Woj 6/24)
No surprise that Woj is doing agent Bill Duffy a favor here with the “up to” carrying a large load of that $270 million reported figure. Barnes would need to make All-NBA or win MVP or Defensive Player of the Year next season to qualify for the 30% max and hit that mark. Instead, I'm projecting about $225 million above, which is the standard 25% max for players coming off of their rookie contracts and based on a $141 million salary cap this season that gets the maximum 10% raise next year to $155.1 million thanks to the new TV contracts.
Update: This was a fun sequence. Always nice to have confirmation from someone like Bobby Marks on something I just wrote. For what it's worth, the figures for a 30% max project to be $46,530,000, $50,252,400, $53,974,800, $57,697,200, and $61,419,600.
lol at the time stamps of my Tweet above (which I immediately expounding on in my tracker here) and the follow up @wojespn and @BobbyMarks42 tweets.
— Dave Giovanazzi (@SF_DavidGio) June 24, 2024
In case you needed a reminder of an easy place to follow along 👇https://t.co/b5bmNbf4OE pic.twitter.com/3gHIdKp3wB
6/30 Update: These are the updated numbers for both a 25% and 30% max now that we know the official salary cap for this season and next year's projection. Making All-NBA could end up being the difference between $224,238,150 and $269,085,780 for Barnes.
Kings re-sign Malik Monk: 4 years, $79 million (Woj 6/20)
This was the most that Sacramento could offer him due to only having Early Bird Rights since it was just two years ago that they signed him with part of the Mid-Level Exception. The starting number is 175% of his $9,945,830 salary from last season, and then you get the standard 8% raises from here.
After finishing second in Sixth Man of the Year voting, Monk might've been able to get more on the open market, but he's clearly found a great role for himself with the Kings and next to his former Kentucky teammate, De'Aaron Fox. Getting the player option at the end was a nice consolation that could allow him to test free agency again when he's 29.
OKC and Chicago combine for a stunner (Woj 6/20)
Thunder receive:
Bulls receive:
Whoa, the offseason really is here! There have been multiple reports about Oklahoma City's interest in restricted free agent Patrick Williams, but instead they're making a move for a different Chicago player. Caruso's contract only had $3 million guaranteed, but that's obviously going to be picked up, with Woj already adding that an extension for the 30 year old defensive ace could be in the works.
On the other side, Giddey doesn't turn 22 until October and is eligible for a rookie extension this summer before potentially hitting restricted free agency in 2025. The ascension of the Thunder's other young stars seemed to put a cap on his growth since he needs the ball in his hands and got played off the court in the playoffs due to his lack of shooting. With Lonzo Ball's unfortunate injury situation, Giddey could now get handed the keys to the offense and show off more of his playmaking ability, so it'll be fascinating to see how he does with more responsibility.
Pacers re-sign Pascal Siakam: 4 years, $189.5 million (Woj 6/19)
This makes sense as something of a middle ground between both sides. Based on the current salary cap projection of $141 million, the max that another team could offer an 8 year veteran like Siakam would be $181,890,000 over four years (30% of the cap with 5% raises). As the incumbent team, Indiana could've gone up to five years with 8% raises for $245,340,000 total, but they just cut it off at four years. So not quite the most that he could've earned but still more than anyone else could offer.
6/30 Update: Now that we know the official salary cap, this is what a 30% max should look like:
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