The buzz around this year's NBA offseason is that the action could happen earlier than usual, so I'm just going to start my annual tracker now. This way I can list any players under contract that get traded during the draft here instead of having those in my separate post about every team's picks.
The Rockets got things started already with the first extension reached right in the middle of the Finals, so I may as well get started now! As usual, players already under contract have their figures listed based on Keith Smith's work at Spotrac.com while salaries in bold italics are my own estimates based on reported numbers and the standard 5% or 8% raises that teams could give. Salaries are also color coded if they are a player option, a team option, not fully guaranteed, or mutual option. Since this post will be constantly updated throughout the summer, I'll be adding the latest news at the top to be readily available upon revisiting this page. Or if you want to go in chronological order, start at the bottom.
6/30 Update: The NBA officially announced that this year's salary cap is set at $154,647,000 with the tax line at $187,895,000, which is right at the expected 10% growth from last year. That means the the full Mid-Level Exception can have a starting salary of $14,104,000 and can top out at 4 years, $60,647,200; the Taxpayer MLE can start at $5,685,000 and go to 2 years, $11,654,250; the Room MLE can start at $8,781,000 and go to 3 years, $27,660,150; and the Bi-Annual Exception can start at $5,134,000 and go to 2 years, $10,524,700. Notably, Marks reports that the salary cap is only projected to go up by 7% raises instead of the maximum of 10% like this year, which could throw a wrench into team's budgets.
Jackson to re-sign with the Pacers: 3 years, $21 million (Shams 7/11)
Jones extends with the Pelicans: 3 years, $68 million (Shams 7/10)
This is the most that Jones could extend for with a 40% raise on the last year of his current contract and then the standard 8% increases from there. There was some talk that the defensive ace might be available in trades with New Orleans having a new front office, but they clearly weren't concerned that he was limited to just 20 games last year. Turning 27 right before the start of the season, this will cover Jones' age 29-31 seasons.
Bagley to sign (back) with the Wizards: 1 year deal (Shams 7/10)
Williams extends with the Thunder: 5 years, up to $287 million (Shams 7/10)
Like with Banchero below, I'm going with $239.9 million as the projection here since Williams needs to make All-NBA next year to bump up from a 25% max to a 30% max. However, an important note Iko is that J-Dub doesn't have a player option at the end like Banchero, which is a fair compromise to allow this upside with the deal.
I'll never get over how incredible it is that OKC was so locked in on landing Williams in the 2022 draft with their #12 pick that they traded for #11 and took Ousmane Dieng just to ensure that no one sniped them or that the trade didn't fall apart. That was even on the higher-end of most draft projections, but they knew what a versatile star he could be. That faith was rewarded with an awesome run in this year's playoffs and a championship as the team's second-best player in just his third season, and he only turned 24 at the start of the playoffs.
There's already a lot of chatter about how this roster will be affected by the Second Apron in the future, but Presti already prepared for this by having team options in the contracts for Hartenstein, Dort, and Kenrich Williams in the years that this and Holmgren's extension kick in. Depending on how many draft picks they have next year and where they land, they could simply part ways with Hartenstein and Kenny Hustle and shuffle through the role players around their stars with the younger players that they continue to draft.
McLaughlin to re-sign with the Spurs: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/9)
As a veteran with six years of experience, McLaughlin will make $2,874,436 with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year deal. He didn't play a ton after arriving in San Antonio with De'Aaron Fox, but he's a solid third-string point guard to be a caretaker when called upon (career 4.29 to 1 assist to turnover ratio) and have in the locker room.
Booker extends with the Suns: 2 years, "$145 million" (Shams 7/9)
I'm putting the $145 million in quotes since there is a lot of projection here since the extension won't kick in until all the way in 2028. The numbers above are based on the salary cap rising by the maximum of 10% in 2027 and 2028 even though the estimate for next summer is only for 7%. If that continues at 7% for the following two years, then this would be worth "only" about $138 million with cap hits of $66.3 and $71.6 million.
Holmgren extends with the Thunder: 5 years, $239 million (Shams 7/9)
After initially Tweeting that it "could reach $250 million," Shams' actual article stated it as $239 million guaranteed with escalators. That is pretty notable because the figures above are Holmgren's 25% max, and "only" having the potential to reach $250 million means that OKC actually fought in negotiations so that even if he makes All-NBA or wins Defensive Player of the Year, it won't bump up to the full 30% number like Banchero below, $289 million.
The two of them were picked at the top of the 2022 draft, and the #2 pick here has unfortunately been limited just 114 games through three years, which likely contributed to these negotiations. Holmgren provides valuable two-way ability with his shot-blocking, shooting, and ball-handling at either big position when he is on the floor, so this compromise sounds like a fair deal. The #3 pick that year, Jabari Smith, hasn't hit the same heights as them, but these deals really show how much of a bargain the extension that he signed could be. Another Thunder player, Jalen Williams, will be the next max contract to look out for from that class after he was picked #12 in what was considered a surprisingly high pick at the time but has proven to be a steal.
San Antonio picks up another big man (Shams 7/8)
Spurs receive:
Wizards receive:
With Kornet already added for defense off the bench, San Antonio now adds a more perimeter big in Olynyk, and they could end up as a second unit pairing. This is the third time that the 34 year old has been traded in the last five months, but he's the headliner instead of just matching salary this time. Olynyk's combination of shooting, passing, and size could make him a nice connective piece to a variety of lineups, especially with Wembanyama's versatility.
I used to have hope for both Branham and Wesley from the 2022 draft, but neither guard could consistently find their stride thus far. That made them expendable for the Spurs as they begin to move into the next phase of their rebuild, especially with their recent big investments at the position.
After Washington gave up a couple of their horde of 2nd rounders in the Whitmore trade, they get one back here as they continue to add former 1st rounders still on rookie contracts. It's definitely worth taking a look on these two in exchange for an older player that wasn't in their plans, and who knows, maybe they see something in camp with these two to negotiate a surprise extension. They have a very full roster, though, so other moves would be needed for both to stick around.
Conversely, San Antonio now has three open roster spots, but both teams still have plenty of room below the luxury tax. That will be especially true for Washington if they cut Richaun Holmes' $13,280,737 salary that's only guaranteed for $250,000. It could potentially be useful for trades, but they have plenty of expiring contracts and could be creating a new Trade Exception worth Olynyk's salary that's right above Holmes'. Branham and Wesley fit just about perfectly into their $9.9 million Valanciunas TE that expires in February, so using that here would create a new, larger TE that lasts longer.
7/10 Update: Keith Smith notes that Washington made a great call to actually use the BAE to take in Wesley since they won't need it next year when they're a cap space team (and you can only use the BAE every other year). That allowed them to just use the smaller Johnny Davis Trade Exception of $5.3 million for Branham that also expires in February and preserve the larger Valanciunas TE. Smart stuff.
Banchero extends with the Magic: 5 years, up to $287 million (Shams 7/7)
I'm going with $239.9 million as the projection here since Banchero needs to make All-NBA next year to bump up from a 25% max to a 30% max. If the former #1 pick and Rookie of the Year does meet the criteria, his cap figures would instead be $49,641,687/$53,613,022/$57,584,357/$61,555,692/$65,527,027. It's the same situation that Franz Wagner faced with them last year, but the fact that Banchero got the last year as a player option is notable. As Shams noted in his Tweet, it's the first such case since 2021 as getting the full five years and the possibility of the 30% max is usually a concession in exchange for not being able to reach free agency after just four years.
Lowry to re-sign with the 76ers: 1 year deal (Shams 7/7)
Wiseman to sign (back) with the Pacers: 2 years, minimum contract (Tony East 7/7)
Wiseman unfortunately tore his Achilles in his first game with Indiana after signing with them last summer and then had to be salary dumped to Toronto at the trade deadline to ensure that they avoided the luxury tax. Hopefully he'll be healthy this time around to find his role in the league as they try to replace Turner in the aggregate with a variety of cheaper big men.
LA, Miami, and Utah combine for surprise trade (Shams 7/7)
Heat receive:
Clippers receive:
Jazz receive:
Powell is coming off of a career season in which he garnered some All-Star consideration, so Miami basically turning the expiring contracts of Anderson and Love into him is quite the coup. You'd think that they'd be the ones sending out a draft pick, but instead they're just taking on additional salary. That does put them a bit into the luxury tax, but it's close enough that they could get out of it with another move either now or by the trade deadline. They can't really go too much the other way with adding more salary now because this hard-caps them at the First Apron, and this move likely rules them out of the Bradley Beal market once he reaches his Phoenix buyout.
The culmination of this deal is funny because Collins had been linked to Miami this summer but is landing in LA, and both Anderson and Love are former UCLA players who are winding up in Utah instead of LA. This also puts the Clippers into the tax with at least one more roster spot to fill, and they are around $6.7 million away from their First Apron hard cap, which is enough to use the $5.3 million remainder of their MLE. It didn't seem like they wanted to extend Powell at age 32 after his big season tailed off in the second half due to injury, especially since other deals have provided a lot of flexibility to have a lot of cap space next summer depending on how they handle team options and partial guarantees.
The shift from Powell to Collins provides a different look with Kawhi Leonard shifting back to small forward instead of playing up a position. Collins regained his shooting stroke in Utah to convert on 38.2% of his threes while attempting a solid 3.5 per game, so this change shouldn't hurt the spacing too badly. They lose the dynamic element of having another wing like Powell between Leonard and Harden but gain more size and rebounding.
Although Collins is coming off a productive year, this isn't a bad outcome for the Jazz due to his high salary that made trade fits a challenge. Getting a 2nd rounder that comes after the Clippers might be making big changes next summer could be useful, and they didn't have a 2nd in that year before this. Perhaps they can flip these veterans, particularly Anderson, by the trade deadline for more, but if not, they're both solid locker room presences for their young roster.
As it stands now, Utah could get to around $8.4 million in cap space, and that can rise to about $18.8 million if they waive the non-guaranteed contracts of KJ Martin and Jaden Springer. Maybe they'll be the team that offers a lifeline to the restricted free agent market since Quentin Grimes was reportedly a sticking point with the Knicks in Donovan Mitchell trade talks back in the day. Or as Gozlan noted, they could stay over the cap by using the MLE to absorb salary and instead create a large Trade Exception worth Collins' $26,580,000 salary.
Rollins to re-sign with the Bucks: 3 years, $12 million (Shams 7/6)
Because Rollins joined Milwaukee in the back-half of the '23-24 season, even on a Two-Way, they had Early Bird Rights to give him a deal like this. That means that his $2.3 million cap hold will need to stay on the books when they renounce the rest of their free agents to have the cap space for the Myles Turner signing, and then they can go over the cap to replace that cap hold with this figure.
The former Warriors 2nd round pick didn't play a ton of minutes when filling in for Lillard as a starter but was productive on both ends of the floor in the time that he received. The player option at the end is a little rich for a player this unproven, but otherwise it's a nice deal for Rollins after he had per 36 averages of 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.8 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 2.3 turnovers with 48.7%/40.8%/80.9% shooting.
7-team trade wrapping up draft day deals makes NBA history (7/6)
Rockets receive:
Suns receive:
#10 pick Khaman Maluach
#31 pick Rasheer Fleming
#41 pick Koby Brea
2026 2nd round pick (2nd-best of Mavericks, Thunder, or 76ers)
Lakers receive:
#36 pick Adou Thiero
Timberwolves receive:
#45 pick Rocco Zikarsky
2026 2nd round pick (lesser of Nuggets and Warriors, via Suns)
2032 2nd round pick (better of Rockets and Suns)
Cash considerations (via Lakers)
Nets receive:
2026 2nd round pick (lesser of Clippers and [best of Celtics/Heat/Pacers], via Rockets)
2030 Celtics 2nd round pick (via Rockets)
Warriors receive:
#52 pick Alex Toohey
#59 pick Jahmai Mashack (sent out in separate trade)
Hawks receive:
Right to swap 2031 2nd round picks with Rockets
Cash Considerations
Now that the moratorium is over and teams are announcing full details of trades, I figured I'd summarize the first seven-team deal in NBA history since some of the details were in my draft summary and others were spread out in their own individual updates. Aside from not knowing the destinations of the Two-Way contract guys, I was able to put together the details of this behemoth last week when it first had NBA Twitter abuzz. The inclusion of Plowden in particular was just so that Atlanta could "touch" another team as Phoenix immediately waived him.
Landale to sign with the Grizzlies: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/5)
Indiana picks up a big man (Shams first, Scotto the details 7/5)
Pacers receive:
Grizzlies receive:
2029 Trail Blazers 2nd round pick
Right to swap 2031 2nd round picks with the Pacers
After putting up good numbers in the G League and in small NBA sample sizes, Huff was converted from his Two-Way contract to this cost controlled deal early in the season. He wasn't able to maintain his role in Memphis as their core bigs got established, but he's certainly worth taking a flier on with career per 36 averages of 20.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 2.5 blocks with 52%/40.4%/82.4% shooting while attempting 8.8 threes.
This move won't replace the loss of Turner, but it could provide somewhat of a facsimile in a smaller role. Indiana already owes a 2031 swap to Miami from the trade for another backup center, Thomas Bryant, so giving up secondary rights here isn't much to add to the extra pick from Portland. Coincidentally enough, they will likely be using a Trade Exception from salary dumping a different center, James Wiseman, to take in Huff's contract.
Shedding this salary isn't enough yet for Memphis to clear enough space for Jackson's renegotiation, but it does get them closer. I think they would need Anthony to give up around $4 million in a buyout to ensure the $240 million total number, so it could come down to whether he has a guarantee elsewhere of a team's BAE or Taxpayer MLE. As a five year veteran, his minimum is only about $2.7 million.
Washington picks up Whitmore (Shams first, Robbins the pick details 7/5)
Wizards receive:
Rockets receive:
2026 Bulls 2nd round pick
2029 Kings 2nd round pick
Washington has a ton of 2nd round picks, so from Houston's perspective, at least the two involved here come from teams with shaky management. Still, this is a pretty sweet pickup for the rebuilding team with Whitmore showing a ton of scoring potential while being stuck on a deep squad trying to contend. He hasn't been shy when he got his chances with per 36 averages of 22.3 points, 7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 2 turnovers with 44.9%/35.7%/70.7% through two seasons, and he only turns 21 this week. At 6'5.75", 235 lbs with a 6'8.5" wingspan, Whitmore is a more physical, scoring focused forward than what the Wizards have, and he could fit well with their group of lottery picks: Bub Carrington, Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly, and Alex Sarr. Add in AJ Johnson, Kyshawn George, Will Riley, and Dillon Jones, and they almost have two full lineups of players on rookie scale contracts. I'm guessing that they will use the $5.3 million Johnny Davis Trade Exception to absorb this salary, and they still have plenty of flexibility under the luxury tax.
The Rockets will get a small Trade Exception worth Whitmore's salary out of this, and they were lacking in 2nd rounders after the KD trade. They likely won't have their 1st round pick that's only top-4 protected this year (from the Russell Westbrook trade), so that Bulls pick is a solid get since it could be in the late 30's or early 40's if they're a Play-In team yet again. Washington actually owns Houston's 2029 2nd rounder that they could've returned, but I think the Sacramento pick here will be more valuable based on their cores.
As an aside, I wonder if Durant takes Whitmore's #7 now like with the Nets and (later career) Team USA or sticks with his traditional #35. Since #7 is retired for the Suns, it wasn't available when he went from Brooklyn to Phoenix like it is now with Houston.
7/6 Update: Now that teams are officially announcing trades as official, I learned from the press releases that this ended up a part of Washington's trade with New Orleans with Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, CJ McCollum, and Kelly Olynyk. The Wizards were sending out just enough salary in that one to fold in Whitmore and not have to touch any of their exceptions, and in order for the other two teams to "touch," the Rockets got the draft rights to Mojave King. The Pelicans just received those rights last month in their trade with the Pacers, and what I wrote below proved true sooner than expected: "I'm guessing the Pels just wanted something else to throw into future trades when they're required to send anything out like a fake 2nd or cash."
Wagner to re-sign with the Magic: 1 year, $5 million (Shams 7/4)
|
Moritz Wagner |
$5,000,000 |
Coming off of a torn ACL, this is a fair deal to keep the older Wagner brother in the fold. If he comes back to play at the level he was at before the injury, Orlando will still have his Bird Rights to give him a more suitable salary. Barring another move to shed salary, it looks like they’ll be a taxpaying team this season for the first time since the Dwight Howard era.
Hayes to re-sign with the Lakers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/3)
Ayton to sign with the Lakers: 2 years, $16.6 million (Stein/Fischer 7/2)
I'm estimating $8.4 number here based on what LA had left of the MLE after signing LaRavia and Shams saying that Ayton will make $34 million combined this season. Fischer said the other day that Ayton gave up $10 million of his original $35,550,814 salary, so depending on the exact amount LaRavia got, so the math would pretty much checks out.
It was easy to connect the dots to LA once the surprise buyout happened given the widely known need at center for the Lakers and the lack of starting caliber options truly available for what they could offer. It also doesn't hurt that Ayton has the same power agent as Luka Doncic, Bill Duffy, and now it's so funny that the former #1 overall pick will now be teammates with the player who should've been picked ahead of him.
Since Doncic typically pairs with true lob threats, it's not necessarily a perfect fit given that Ayton prefers to settle for two-point jumpers and infamously goes to the free throw line at a low rate despite making 75.5% for his career. He does inhale boards with a 26.9% percent career defensive rebounding rate, though, so that could go a long way towards addressing the Lakers' issues from these past playoffs. LA is now hard-capped at the First Apron but still has enough flexibility under it to use the BAE for another addition.
Update: Fischer followed up that it will be a two-year deal with an $8.1 million starting salary, and Scotto added that the second year is a player option, as you'd expect. With a standard 5% raise, that gets to $16.6 million. After Indiana shockingly lost Turner yesterday, there was some thought that they could get involved with the full $14.1 million of the MLE available since they were the ones who gave Ayton the max contract offer sheet back in 2022, but I feel like this was already a done deal.
A buyout for Ayton's big expiring contract was not on my bingo card. He must be giving a decent amount of money back knowing there's a deal out there (Lakers?) to make it back and have it worth it to Portland https://t.co/gEFPoL4xR9
— Dave Giovanazzi (@SF_DavidGio) June 30, 2025
Exum to re-sign with the Mavericks: one year deal (Shams 7/2)
This is also likely to be for the minimum given how close Dallas is to the Second Apron. Although he's a fellow 2014 draftee like his former Mavs teammate Dinwiddie below, Exum only has 8 years of NBA experience since he had to go overseas for a couple of years, so he'd be set to earn about $3.3 million with the subsidized cap hit. They have a full roster, so another move will be coming to open up some space.
Dinwiddie to sign with the Hornets: one year deal (Shams 7/2)
Gordon re-signs with the 76ers: unknown details (Team announcement 7/1)
It's a minimum deal since it was already signed while the moratorium is still going on, so it's just a matter of whether it's a 1+1 like Gordon's last couple of contracts. As a veteran with 10+ years of experience, he will earn $3.6 million, but whether or not that's subsidized by the league for the smaller cap hit above if it's a one year deal could make a big difference for Philadelphia.
I'm going with just one year for now since they're around $10 million away from the First Apron and $22 million from the Second Apron with Quentin Grimes still left to be signed in restricted free agency and at least one more open roster spot. Gordon declining his $3,468,960 player option actually got him a slight raise with the vet minimum rising by 10% with the cap compared to his 5% annual raise, and doing this lowered his cap hit if is a one-year. Win-win.
Mann to re-sign with the Hornets: 3 years, $24 million (Shams 7/1)
This one was a bit of a roller coaster because around draft time Jeff Peterson's public comments indicated that Mann would be back after a back injury limited him to just 13 games last year. Then they ended up with that shocking Sexton trade and didn't tender him the qualifying offer of about $6.9 million, so it seemed like they were pivoting. Now it appears he will start at about the same amount as that QO in a similar situation to Sharpe and Brooklyn.
Mann is only 24 and played well enough between that short stint and the 28 games for them after arriving at the 2024 trade deadline to warrant this kind of salary as a backup guard who can both pass (4.5 assists per game with them) and shoot (37.7%) decently enough.
7/2 Update: Scotto reports that the last year is a team option, which is understandable given that back issue that Mann's coming off of.
Robinson to sign-and-trade with the Pistons: 3 years, $48 million (Shams 7/1)
Heat receive:
When Robinson opted out of his $19,888,000 salary with Miami due in part to only having $9,888,000 guaranteed, I didn't expect him to end up getting a new deal this high. In fact, it's more than his former college teammate LeVert got to also return to the state of Michigan.
Adding to the cost is the fact that Detroit is giving up an underrated wing in Fontecchio, who in turn makes for a nice return from the Heat perspective instead of losing a free agent for nothing. He's not nearly the shooter that Robinson is but is acceptable from deep while bringing solid defense. Still, Robinson brings a valuable skillset with his 39.7% career mark from distance on 7.2 attempts per game, and he's become an underrate playmaker when he has to put the ball on the deck. After the Pistons finally provided Cade Cunningham with proper spacing (and competent coaching) last season, they made sure that they had replacements ready for Malik Beasley and Hardaway (another Michigan man) with these deals for LeVert and Robinson.
This hard-caps Miami at the Second Apron, which isn't a problem with them still around $5.8 million under the tax line, and Detroit at the First Apron, with them still around $26 million under the tax line. The Heat still have the MLE available but has a full roster, and I think the Pistons could still structure things to have either the Room MLE or BAE at their disposal.
Update: Omari Sankofa reports that Robinson's 2nd year only has a partial guarantee and that the third year is non-guaranteed, which makes more sense when comparing to LeVert's deal. Since sign-and-trades have to be for at least three years with only the first year guaranteed, you often see those last years look like this.
7/7 Update: With the deal now official, Scotto and Gozlan combined to report that Detroit front-loaded Robinson's contract with the most possible when sending out Fontecchio and only guaranteed $2 million of the second year. That structure makes a lot of sense since they have a ton of cushion below the tax line and this gives Robinson more guaranteed money up front.
Nance to sign (back) with the Cavaliers: 1 year, minimum contract (Stein 7/1)
Eubanks to sign with the Kings: 1 year deal (Shams 7/1)
Sacramento could be offering the BAE here, but like with Hardaway below, I'm just projecting the minimum, especially since they seem to be wary of the tax based on the Valanciunas-Saric trade. As a seven-year vet, Eubanks will make $3,080,921 with this subsidized cap hit on the one-year deal, so he gets a decent chunk back of the $4,750,000 non-guaranteed salary that the Clippers waived.
Hardaway to sign with the Nuggets: 1 year deal (Shams 7/1)
Denver still has the MLE to offer, but I'm projecting just the minimum for now since no salary was included in the report (agents always brag if it's for more than the minimum). As a veteran with 10+ years of experience, Hardaway will earn $3.6 million with this subsidized cap hit on the one-year deal.
Minott to sign with the Celtics: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Between Minott and Garza, Boston is really trying to capture some upside with former Wolves on two year deals despite the slightly higher cap hits despite trying to avoid the Second Apron. Both are young enough that having longer control if they break out could be valuable, and then they'd have Early Bird Rights to retain them.
Scotto adds that the second year is a team option, so there's little risk here for the Celtics, even if it does (likely temporarily) put them just over the Second Apron again. They have non-guaranteed contracts that could be waived, or other trades could be on the way.
Poeltl to extend with the Raptors: 3 years, $84.5 million (Shams 7/1)
The phrasing of this was interesting because Shams reported it as 4 years, $104 million but also said that Poeltl is picking up his $19.5 million player option for '26-27 and tacking on three years. That's why I'm structuring it this way and listing it as 3 years, $84.5 million since that's the new money involved. If it was a true $104 million extension, that would replace the player option with flatter cap hits of $23,214,286/$25,071,429/$26,928,571/$28,785,714 instead of the jump up in '27-28.
Update: Fischer adds that the final year only has $5 million guaranteed with structured language that it could increase. I guess only getting about $59 million guaranteed is why Shams reported it the way he did with the option year included.
Mamukelashvili to sign with the Raptors: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
This is the same deal as Sims since they both have four years of experience, and Mamukelashvili could be a sneaky good replacement for free agent Chris Boucher. The 25 year old made 37.3% of his threes with the Spurs last year while attempting 8.5 per 36 minutes, and he has a 34.8% career-mark along with a 19.1% career defensive rebounding rate.
Sims to re-sign with the Bucks: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Milwaukee is really loading up on these 1+1 deals with the slightly higher tax hits in order to lure players with the opportunity to opt out for more next summer after a role on a playoff team.
Schroder to sign with the Kings: 3 years, $45 million (Katz first, Shams the details 7/1)
The full MLE tops out at $44.4 million if used on a three year deal, so barring this ending up a sign-and-trade, those are the figures I'm going with here. Stein has been reporting on this likely match for a while now, and following Sacramento's Valanciunas trade, they can now fill out the roster with minimum salaries and safely duck the luxury tax.
If they're willing to dip their toes into those waters, this deal could fit into their Kevin Huerter TE in order to sign someone else with the MLE, as Gozlan pointed out on Twitter. That would require Detroit to play ball with a sign-and-trade, of course. Haynes also added that the third year only has a partial guarantee, so I'm curious how much that will be worth after Fischer said yesterday that the deal was expected to be around $28 million over two years.
7/2 Update: Sankofa reports that this will be a sign-and-trade after all, so Schroder could actually get more than the MLE. This will allow Detroit to create a Trade Exception equal to his first year salary or add another player right now making up to about $22 million, with Malik Monk a name that's been in the rumor mill for Sacramento.
7/7 Update: With the deal now official, Siegel reports that the deal is done and the following 2nd rounders were involved. It's a "fake" 2nd rounder going out from Sacramento since they technically have to send something in return while it doesn't sound like there are any protections on Detroit's pick since they're paying to create a Trade Exception. The Pistons had three 2nd rounders in 2029, so they're dealing out of a strength at least.
Kings receive:
Pistons receive:
2026 2nd round pick (protected 31-55)
7/8 Update: Scotto adds that the first two years are fully guaranteed before a $4.35 million guarantee in the third season, and he reported it as $44.4 million, which means my original projection of the MLE value was the more accurate number. That should leave them about $5.4 million below the tax line but around $11 million (due to unlikely incentives) under the First Apron that they're hard-capped by, so they could only use part of the MLE if they wanted to.
Milwaukee salary dumps Connaughton (Shams 7/1)
Hornets receive:
2031 2nd round pick
2032 2nd round pick
Bucks receive:
After Micic was seemingly one of the biggest winners of draft night by having his team option picked by Phoenix up to facilitate the Mark Williams trade, his return to Charlotte didn't last long. He reportedly has good offers to play overseas again, so a buyout with Milwaukee to create more cap space than the $1.3 million difference in salaries here could be on the way to justify this price. Even then, the math will be tight and might require waiving one of their non-guaranteed contracts (likely Chris Livingston).
All of this being necessary for the Turner signing really makes that a costly addition, especially since this basically drains them of their last remaining 2nd round picks. The only one that they have left over the next seven years is Utah's next year that has top-55 protection, which means it almost certainly won't convey.
7/7 Update: Eric Nehm reports that Micic gave up a whopping $6.1 million in his buyout to return to Europe. Dropping Connaughton's cap hit to just $2 million with Micic definitely justifies giving up the two picks here, and Milwaukee subsequently had the necessary cap space to re-sign Portis, sign Turner, and keep Rollins' cap hold to exceed the cap for his return. I think that even allows keeping Trent's cap hold on the books to use Non-Bird Rights for his deal and preserve around $3.7 million of the Room MLE depending on Porter's exact number.
Harris to sign with the Bucks: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 7/1)
Like with Prince for Milwaukee, the cap hit will reflect Harris' actual salary since this is a multiyear deal. This can be signed after their other moves that use cap space. The total guarantee here is about what Harris could've made had Orlando not declined his $7.5 million team option, but he's of course hoping to be able to opt out for a bigger deal next summer if he rehabs his value this season.
Denver and Sacramento swap backup bigs (Shams 7/1)
Nuggets receive:
Kings receive:
Unless this is is combined with the Porter-Johnson trade, it will hard-cap Denver at the First Apron since they're taking in additional money, which also puts them right on the edge of the luxury tax. It's kind of funny that they were the runner up for Yabusele, per Scotto, since he would've made it three straight years that they give someone a 1+1 with the Taxpayer MLE that he got in New York. In each of the first two cases, Reggie Jackson and now Saric, they had to get off of the second year of the deal when it was inevitably picked up after a down season.
This trade didn't cost the Nuggets picks like before, though, and Valanciunas could in theory solve their annual problem of getting killed when Jokic subs out. He was traded to Sacramento just five months ago but is a salary dump here as they try to fill out their roster with the full MLE without crossing the tax line.
Turner to sign with the Bucks: 4 years, $107 million (Shams 7/1)
The longest tenured Pacer is an ideal fit next to Giannis Antetokounmpo in the Brook Lopez role, but there must be some accompanying move for Milwaukee to able to sign him to this large of a deal. Fischer reports that Indiana's offer never exceeded three years, $60 million, which almost feels insulting from an outsider's perspective. They were reportedly willing to make a rare foray into the tax to bring him back, but I guess Tyrese Haliburton now being out for the season in all likelihood changed the equation.
Update: I thought it would just be some sort of sign-and-trade with the Pacers, but instead Damian Lillard will be waived with his remaining $112.6 million stretched over five years to create the necessary cap sapce, wow. That means a dead money cap hit of over $22.5 million each year, and the crazy part is that this he was on an extension that just kicked in for this season. Lillard is expected to miss the entire season after tearing his Achilles in the playoffs, but talk about an unceremonious end just two years after their blockbuster trade for him.
So this means that Milwaukee will be operating as a cap space team to sign Turner, and then it would seem that Porter and Trent will be splitting the Room MLE rather than being signed with the BAE and Non-Bird Rights, respectively. I think they still need to shed a bit more salary (ideally Pat Connaughton's expiring $9,423,869) to have enough cap space to start this series of transactions.
7/7 Update: With the moves now official, Scotto and Gozlan combined to report that Turner ended up with a slightly higher total of $108,868,479 after Milwaukee's subsequent moves resulted in $25,318,251 million of cap space that all went to Turner.
To recap the hoops that they went through:
- The Bucks used two 2nd round picks to swap out Connaughton's $9,423,869 expiring contract for Micic's $8,109,150 expiring, knowing that he's about to go back to Europe.
- They then got Micic to give up $6,109,150 in a buyout to reduce his cap hit to $2,000,000 and then stretched both that and Lillard's remaining $112,583,016. That reduced the cap hits to $666,667 (for three years) and $22,516,603 (down from $54,126,450, for five years), respectively.
- Waiving Livingston's non-guaranteed $2,221,677 and renouncing all free agents aside from Portis, Rollins, and Trent resulted in $18,595,375 of cap space when accounting for empty roster charges. Replacing Portis' $20,168,631 cap hold with his starting salary of $13,445,754 (aka the same figure as what his player option was), per Gozlan, gives you that $25,318,251 figure.
- Now they can exceed the cap by replacing Rollins' and Trent's cap holds with their new deals through the Early Bird Exception and Non-Bird Exception, respectively; using part of the Room Mid-Level Exception on Porter; and using the Minimum Exception on Prince, Sims, and Prince. Keeping Trent's cap hold on the books means that Milwaukee still has between $3.4-$3.7 million left of the Room MLE depending on what Porter's exact starting salary is.
Yabusele to sign with the Knicks: 2 years, $12 million (Shams 7/1)
The Taxpayer MLE was New York's only tool to sign someone, and it was somewhat surprisingly enough to win the highly sought after French big man.
7/6 Update: Bondy reported yesterday that Yabusele will end up taking slightly less than the Taxpayer MLE amount, so that will provide New York with enough room under the Second Apron to fill out the roster with a veteran minimum instead of being limited to one of their 2nd rounders for the smaller cap hit.
Gilgeous-Alexander to extend with the Thunder: 4 years, up to $285 million (Shams 7/1)
We won't know the actual amount for a while, but the numbers above to get to the $285 million figure that Shams reported is based on the cap rising 7% next year as projected and then going back to the maximum of a 10% raise for the '27-28 season. If it's only another 7% raise, then this total would be around $278 million instead.
In any case, it will be a max contract that starts at 35% of the 2027 salary cap with 8% raises aka the most that Gilgeous-Alexander could possibly sign for right now. It's a strong sign of commitment by the first player to win the scoring title, MVP, and Finals MVP in the same season in 25 years.
Trent to re-sign with the Bucks: 2 years, $7.5 million (Shams 6/30)
Since Trent had to settle for the minimum last year, 120% of his minimum is the most that Milwaukee could offer him with Non-Bird Rights. I thought he might get at least part of the MLE, either from them or elsewhere, but the Bucks were able to preserve that to try to use elsewhere in exchange for giving him the player option next year. By then, Trent (and Porter and Prince with similar 1+1 deals) would have Early Bird Rights to be made whole with bigger deals.
They could use all $14.1 million of the MLE since they're about $21.4 million below the First Apron, but they might be cognizant of being $13.4 million under the tax right now after paying it the past five years.
Watford to sign with the 76ers: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Since this is a multiyear deal, Watford's cap hit will count for his full amount as a four-year veteran. He can't moonlight as a small-ball center as much as Guerschon Yabusele, but this is likely the replacement here as another sneaky good minimum signing.
7/2 Update: Scotto adds that the second year here is a team option, so there's really no risk here on the Philadelphia side.
Clarkson to sign with the Knicks: 1 year, minimum contract (Bondy 6/30)
It hasn't been reported yet how much Clarkson gave up in the buyout of his $14,285,714 expiring contract with the Jazz, but I'm guessing that it was just for the equivalent of his minimum. As a veteran with 10+ years of experience, Clarkson will earn $3.6 million with this subsidized cap hit (yes I'm just going to copy and paste that line at this point).
7/1 Update: Fischer reports that Clarkson gave up roughly $3.6 million in his buyout with Utah, which checks out with what he'll make back in this deal.
Prince to re-sign with the Bucks: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
With this being a 1+1 deal, Prince's cap hit will reflect his actual salary since the league only subsidizes veteran minimum contracts when they're for one year. It could technically be the true $7.1 million that Shams reported it as if Milwaukee used Non-Bird Rights to give him 105% of his minimum, but the player typically gets the maximum 120% possible in that case, which would be $8.1 million. I'm just projecting his minimum for now.
Plumlee to sign (back) with the Hornets: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Well, Charlotte has some size on the roster again at least, and it's yet another Duke product going back to the the state of North Carolina. As a veteran with 10+ years of experience, Plumlee will earn $3.6 million with this subsidized cap hit.
Kennard to sign with the Hawks: 1 year, $11 million (Shams 6/30)
And there's the quick answer as to what Atlanta's follow up move will be since Alexander-Walker's sign-and-trade preserved the MLE for this. With 12 players under contract, I wonder if they fill the roster with two more minimums and start NAW with a front-loaded (up to around $17.5M) or more flat salary structure to preserve a little future flexibility. They could still stay under the tax and give Minnesota a larger Trade Exception.
Hayes-Davis to sign with the Suns: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
The former Wisconsin star only played one year in the NBA back in the '17-18 season but is coming off of a strong run in the Euroleague with Fenerbahce. He could be a creative solution to Phoenix's need for forward depth.
Jones to sign with the Magic: 1 year, $7 million (Scotto first, Shams the details 6/30)
This will use most of Orlando's MLE and hard-cap them at the First Apron. The reported amount will take them right up to the tax line with some roster spots still left to fill.
Alexander-Walker to sign-and-trade with the Hawks: 4 years, $62 million (Fischer that it was imminent, Shams the details 6/30)
Hawks receive:
Timberwolves receive:
2027 Cavaliers 2nd round pick
Cash considerations
Given how in demand Alexander-Walker was across the league for the MLE and how Atlanta has been looking to use its $25 million Trade Exception before it expires next week, I was expecting him to get more. At this price, making this a sign-and-trade (with Minnesota likely doing it for a 2nd or cash to create their own TE) would still allow them to use the MLE elsewhere and still duck the tax.
Update: Right after I wrote that parenthetical, Fischer reports that Atlanta is sending both a 2nd round pick and cash. The Wolves likely won't use that TE worth the equivalent of NAW's starting salary this season given their Apron situation, but it could be a nice tool to use next summer. With the pick coming in 2027, it must be one of the Cavaliers picks that Atlanta got from the De'Andre Hunter trade that is being sent out.
Garza to sign with the Celtics: 2 years, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Five months after the rival Lakers got Luka Doncic, the Celtics got a Luka of their own. In all seriousness, the 26 year old is worth a look given that he's averaged 22.3 points per 36 minutes for his career in the sparse playing time he's gotten. Garza is only a 31.4% career shooter from deep, but he's not afraid to get them up with 5.8 attempts per 36, which could make him a good fit in Boston's relatively open front court.
Lopez to sign with the Clippers: 2 years, $18 million (Shams 6/30)
We're seeing some pretty similar values for backup big men today, and like them, this will likely use most of the Clips' MLE. I put the equivalent of the Room MLE above since that could've been a reference point in negotiations, and right now they're just under the tax line, though that could change with Drew Eubanks' $4.5 million not guaranteed. It's a bit of a surprising outcome after the southern California native (and Disneyland lover) was pegged by many to make a return to the other LA team where he could potentially start, but instead Lopez will backup Ivica Zubac.
7/6 Update: There was some talk that Lopez only got one year guaranteed, and Katz confirmed now that the deal is official that the second year is a team option, which really makes this a value signing for LA.
LeVert to sign with the Pistons: 2 years, $29 million (Shams 6/30)
I'm projecting the full MLE amount for now, but like I mentioned with Reed below, Detroit has the flexibility to operate over or under the cap. This is pretty close to the 2 year, $32 million contract that LeVert is coming off of.
Capela to sign (back) with the Rockets: 3 years, $21.5 million (Shams 6/30)
Update: Fischer reports that Capela will be the one coming via sign-and trade. With Atlanta only receiving a 2031 2nd round pick swap and cash for their part (plus a Trade Exception worth his 1st year salary), it sounds like this will just be added into the Suns trade. The outgoing salary of Green and Brooks is already enough to take back Capela with Durant. Barring anything else, Houston will need to waive the non-guaranteed contracts of Landale and Nate Williams to barely stay under the First Apron. Having your third string center be the reason you go firmly into the luxury tax for the first time in years feels like an unusual choice, but now they are absolutely loaded with depth.
Kornet to sign with the Spurs: 4 years, $41 million (Shams 6/30)
Scotto adds that the last year is a team option, but in any case this will eat up most of San Antonio's MLE. A couple weeks shy of turning 30, Kornet now receives life-changing money after mostly making the minimum in his career. Although it took a while, he eventually carved out a role in Boston's big man rotation as a rim protector and offensive rebounder who contributed in their 2024 title run.
He'll now add even more size to the Spurs' front court behind Victor Wembanyama, and with the young superstar's versatility, perhaps there are plans for some lineups with both of them based on this contract.
7/7 Update: Now that the contract is officially signed, Scotto reports that the deal is front-loaded with the third year only having $2.55 million guaranteed. This should help San Antonio maintain flexibility as their younger players reach second contracts, namely with Wembanyama's likely max extension kicking in during Kornet's third year.
Looney to sign with the Pelicans: 2 years, $16 million (Shams 6/30)
This will likely come out of the MLE, but since Stein reported New Orleans as a possible Jonathan Kuminga team, maybe this could be looped into a double sign-and-trade to help deal with the Warriors' Base Year Compensation issue with Kuminga. Update: I just remembered that sign-and-trades need to be for at least three years, so unless Looney would be okay tacking on a non-guaranteed year at the end, my idea of combining the two isn't possible.
7/7 Update: Now that the contract is officially signed, Scotto reports that the second year is a team option.
Brown to sign (back) with the Nuggets: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams first, Amick the details 6/30)
Having seven years of experience, Brown will earn about $3.1 million on this league-subsidized contract. After winning the 2023 championship with Denver and getting paid by Indiana in free agency, he now returns as a potentially critical bench piece again. His versatility as a defender and smart cutting on offense fit well next to Jokic, so this is a good start to addressing their depth issues.
Porter to re-sign with the Bucks: 2 years, $11 million (Shams 6/30)
Milwaukee only had Non-Bird Rights on Porter, so I'm projecting this to be the BAE amount. After arriving at the trade deadline, he averaged 11.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.7 turnovers in only 19.9 minutes with 49.4%/40.8%/87.1% shooting. That was mostly coming off the bench, but he might be starting for the Bucks with Lillard potentially out for the whole season due to a torn Achilles.
Jerome to sign with the Grizzlies: 3 years, $28 million (Shams 6/30)
It was easy to see this structure with the Room MLE a mile away once Stein and Fischer reported the interest, even if it is a bit surprising that Jerome ended up with a smaller deal than Merril. The Sixth Man of the Year finalist had an incredible breakout season, averaging 12.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.1 steals, and just 1.3 turnovers in only 19.9 minutes with 51.6%/43.9%/87.2% shooting. With that kind of range and decent size (6'4.25" without shoes), he can play in a variety of back court combinations next to Ja Morant, Scotty Pippen Jr, or Jaylen Wells.
The order of operations is important for Memphis as they need to make the move to clear enough cap space for Jackson's renegotiation, use it all up in that extension, replace Aldama's cap hold with his new deal, and then use the Room MLE on Jerome.
Sounds like Ty Jerome's market is the Room MLE, which projects to top out at 3 years, $27.7M.
— Dave Giovanazzi (@SF_DavidGio) June 30, 2025
Grizzlies could renegotiate+extend JJJ while keeping Aldama's $11.9M cap hold, then re-sign Aldama for more, and then use that Room MLE while staying out of the tax https://t.co/3hEE36wdH4
Denver and Brooklyn swap shooters (Shams 6/30)
Nuggets receive:
Nets receive:
This is a fascinating way for Denver to solve their tax and Apron issues, and now they'll have access to the full MLE to add to the roster. It's also a pretty nifty way for Brooklyn to use their hoard of cap space to add value. Porter just turned 27 (literally yesterday) and is the more proven scorer, but the difference in their contracts is so vast that you'd rather have the 29 year old Johnson in a lot of cases. I believe that some of the latter's incentives that are based on team performance will now be deemed "likely" with the move to the Nuggets to raise his cap hit from $20.5 million, but that's still a big drop in salary to open up new avenues for them.
Although both of them can play shift between forward spots, I think Johnson is a little better of a fit at small forward given that he's 6'7" without shoes (6'10" wingspan) and not as strong of a rebounder, and that should work fine next to Aaron Gordon. In the three seasons since becoming a full-time starter (157 games), Johnson has averaged 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1 steal, 0.3 blocks, and 1.2 turnovers in only 29.2 minutes with 46.4%/39.4%/85.5% shooting while attempting 6.5 threes and 2.9 free throws.
Porter missed almost the entire '21-22 season, but over the past five years since he became a starter (290 games), his averages are 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 1.2 turnovers in just 31.5 minutes with 49.9%/40.5%/79% while attempting 6.6 threes and 2 free throws. Standing 6'9.5" without shoes with a 7'0.25" wingspan and a 18.9% career defensive rebounding rate, he could have a much more featured role as a stretch for on this young Nets roster that's full of guards and smaller wings.
I thought at the time that Denver caved too easily with his rookie extension in 2021 after just one full year as a starter to give him the 25% max, even if it wasn't fully guaranteed initially, but Brooklyn is in position to afford to take on an overpaid contract. Getting that juicy 1st rounder so far down the line that Nikola Jokic might not be playing for the Nuggets anymore to take on the younger player makes all the sense in the world. That's not to say that this was a bad deal for the other side; it's a reasonable price to open up more flexibility and try to maximize Jokic's prime.
Denver is well clear of the Second Apron now to add more salary in moves and could potentially even use the full MLE, though they might be hesitant to spend too much now that they're facing the repeater penalty. An interesting wrinkle to this is that they sent a 2032 pick when they owe top-5 protected 1st rounders in 2027 and 2029, so that means that they can't trade any other 1st rounders now due to the Stepien rule. If they had sent their 2031 pick instead, then next year the 2033 1st would become available, but perhaps Brooklyn insisted on a pick as far down the line as possible from peak Joker and wanted to hurt their flexibility in order to make the pick better.
Russell to sign with the Mavericks: 2 years, $12 million (Shams 6/30)
I don't know why Shams and Haynes reported it as $13 million when all Dallas has to sign someone is the Taxpayer MLE that tops out at $11,654,250, but Stein has been all over this match coming to fruition (and correctly described it as "nearly $12 million"). Although, Russell is far from a perfect player, a 1+1 deal at this price is a huge bargain thanks to the allure of being the starting point guard on a playoff contender while Irving recovers from a March ACL tear. That could last for most of the season, and then they're both good enough shooters that they could play together in some lineups thanks to the forwards and bigs behind them on defense. If all goes to plan and Russell successfully rehabs his value, then he can opt out with more teams having cap space a year from now.
Jones to re-sign with the Bulls: 3 years, $24 million (Shams 6/30)
This possibility was put more into focus once Chicago traded away Ball to leave the backup point guard role firmly in Jones' grasp. They're still around $39 million away from the luxury tax, so they have a lot of flexibility with how to structure a new contract for Giddey. In 18 games (9 starts) with the Bulls after arriving shortly before the trade deadline, Jones averaged 11.5 points and 4.9 assists against a minuscule 0.8 turnovers while shooting a scoring 57.2%/50%/88.2% in just 25.3 minutes. That was a tiny sample size of going 11/22 on threes after making only 30.2% in four and a half years with San Antonio, but it's still certainly encouraging enough to bring back.
7/6 Update: With deals becoming official today, Scotto reports that the final year for Jones is a team option.
LaRavia to sign with the Lakers: 2 years, $12 million (Shams 6/30)
I'm projecting that this is going to be the equivalent of the Taxpayer MLE and that the reporters were rounding up, which is especially believable in this case since the agent told Chris Haynes the wrong team at first. Because the Grizzlies declined the fourth year option of LaRavia's rookie scale contract before trading him, the Kings were limited to only offering him a starting salary for the amount of that option, $5,163,127. Instead, he's getting a touch more further down the state to try to fill Finney-Smith's role at forward, and although LaRavia is not as proven of a defender, he is eight and a half years younger.
Spencer to re-sign with the Grizzlies: 2 years, $4.5 million (Shams 6/30)
I'm projecting the minimum here after Spencer was on a Two-Way as a rookie.
Reed to re-sign with the Pistons: 2 years, $11 million (Shams 6/30)
I'm projecting this to be the equivalent to BAE amount for now as a reference point, though Detroit has his Early Bird Rights to re-sign him with. They have a lot of flexibility to operate either over the cap with the MLE and BAE or under with cap space and the Room MLE.
Finney-Smith to sign with the Rockets: 4 years, $53 million (Shams first, Scotto details 6/30)
The fact that this is a bit below the full MLE amount is notable, and there could still be some sign-and-trade possibilities since Houston was able to push the guarantee date back on Landale's $8 million contract. Either way, they will be hard-capped at the First Apron now and project to be in the luxury tax.
Getting Finney-Smith away from a rival playoff contender in the Lakers could be worth it, though, and he can provide a similar 3+D aspect on the wing to what they lost in Brooks. He is 32 now, but they're getting him for a cheaper deal than the 4/$57M that he got in his last contract and in a higher cap environment. Scotto adds that the last year is a player option that isn't fully guaranteed if picked up, which has started to become a more popular structure lately (see Harden below, Buddy Hield last year).
7/7 Update: Now that the contract is officially signed, Scotto reports that both the third and fourth years are non-guaranteed to go along with that player option on the latter. This really makes it a value contract for Houston with the risk taken out of Finney-Smith's age 34 and 35 seasons, and I'm pretty surprised that LA didn't keep one of Doncic's good friends on a similar team friendly deal after he declined his $15,378,480 option.
Aldama to re-sign with the Grizzlies: 3 years, $52.5 million (Shams 6/30)
A deal slightly above the full MLE that other teams could offer makes sense here. The 24 year old shot a career-high 36.8% on threes last season while maintaining the same volume of 5 per game, and he provides underrated passing chops for a big. Being able to bring him off the bench to play next to either Jackson or Zach Edey is a nice luxury to have.
As Gozlan noted, it might make sense to make this a declining structure to really take advantage of Aldama's cap hold since Memphis will be far from the luxury tax this season as a even after this raise and using the Room MLE. He will be counting as only a $11,881,593 when they use their cap space, and then even if this ends up being $19,021,739/$17,500,000/$15,978,261, they would still have quite a bit of breathing room.
Jackson to renegotiate-and-extend with the Grizzlies: 3 years, "$240 million" (Shams 6/30
This has long been the expectation between the two sides, but the interesting thing is that Memphis still needs to make another move in order to clear enough cap space to bump his salary for this year up. As mentioned in the Bane section below, I'm projecting them to trade away Konchar with no salary coming back so that they have $9,361,178 in space while keeping Aldama's $11,881,593 cap hold on the books (though stretching Anthony's $13,100,000 over three years is another costly option). They can then add that to Jackson's current $23,413,395 salary for this season to get to the $32,774,573 starting salary above, and then with a 140% raise get him to a '26-27 salary that's basically his max before the standard 8% raises for a total of $238,336,695 that's adding $214,923,300 in new money.
If JJJ were to hit free agency next summer, the new projected salary cap meant that other teams could offer him a starting salary of $49,641,687 with 5% raises for a total of $213,459,254. In a way, the projection of only a 7% cap increase next summer helps the Grizzlies since now they don't have to create as much space this year to get him to a similar number as other offers.
Batum to re-sign with the Clippers: 2 years, $11.5 million (Shams 6/30)
Sharpe to re-sign with the Nets: 2 years, $12 million (Scotto 6/30)
I can practically copy and paste what I wrote this morning about Brooklyn's finances, just with their cap space now likely to be around $34.3 million with the potential to go up to $40.1 million (pending any waivers). Their own draft pick in 2021, Sharpe has more consistently looked like a rotation player thanks to his great rebounding numbers (14 per 36 minutes for his career), and he understandably gets both years guaranteed as a result. Incidentally, this reported figure is almost the same as what his qualifying offer would've been, $5,983,683, and I thought he might get more.
Update: Although Shams didn't mention a team option like with Williams, I realized after writing this that Scotto not only had the news first, but he also edited his tweet to include the option while still being earlier than Shams. Maybe it will be a flat $6 million each year to give him a little more guaranteed in exchange for that optionality.
Ingles to re-sign with the Timberwolves: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/30)
Same deal as last year, just with a bump to $3.6 million as the amount for veterans with 10+ years. He only played 19 games (and none in the playoffs) but gets to continue to hangout with his old Jazz teammates Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert as a nice locker room presence.
Gillespie to re-sign with the Suns: 1 year deal (Shams 6/30)
Williams to re-sign with the Nets: 2 years, $12 million (Shams 6/30)
Brooklyn did not offer Williams the qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent since that was for about $8.5 million. Instead, they are getting him even cheaper and with team control at a price of around the Taxpayer MLE. That exception projects to have salaries of $5,685,000 and $5,969,250, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're using that as s baseline here, with Shams just rounding up to "$12 million."
The former #10 pick showed some improvement after the trade to the Nets a year ago as he increased his defensive rebounding percentage (17.6%), three point attempts (4.8 per game, 7.1 per 36), and accuracy (34.1%). Williams only turns 24 in September and should continue to have a runway to develop on this team full of rookies. Even with this deal, Nets can still get to over $40 million in cap space while still retaining Cam Thomas' cap hold and then use the Room MLE of about $8.8 million. Or this deal could be part of that Room MLE if they needed to get to nearly $46 million for other transactions. Those figures could get even higher if they were to waive players with contracts that aren't fully guaranteed like Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson, Tyrese Martin, or Drew Timme, but I wouldn't expect all (or maybe even any) of them gone.
Smith to extend with the Rockets: 5 years, $122 million (Shams 6/29)
This feels like a lot at first glance, but really it's less than what Naz Reid just signed for. The former #3 pick only turned 22 last month, so this is a (big) bet on his continued growth as a versatile forward that contributes on both ends of the floor. Going five years out is a big commitment with one year left on the rookie deal still, but it's a fine tradeoff for going with only a $22.4 average salary as the cap rises. This probably gives a good indication of who will be Houston's fifth starter next to VanVleet, Thompson, Durant, and Sengun after Smith mostly moved to a reserve role following a broken hand that cost him a month.
Portis to re-sign with the Bucks: 3 years, $44 million (Shams 6/29)
Portis had a $13,445,754 player option, so this gives him nearly an identical salary for this season with a 1+1 tacked on at the end. It's slightly less than what the starting salary of the Full MLE projects to be ($14.1 million), but the fan favorite could step into a starting role if Milwaukee lets Brook Lopez go in free agency.
Harden to re-sign with the Clippers: 2 years, $81.5 million (Shams 6/29)
This replaces Harden's $36,346,154 player option with another 1+1 deal, but only having a partial guarantee on next year's player option is a new wrinkle. There's no word yet on how much it will be in that second year, but this structure allows both sides continue to maintain flexibility into next summer when there will be more cap space around the league. I'm going to start color coding these "mutual option" years as purple from now on since it's a mix of the player options in blue and the not fully guaranteed years in red.
7/6 Update: With deals becoming official today, Scotto confirmed that Harden's base salary is $39.2 million like I projected and provided the long-awaited detail of the second season only being $13.3 million guaranteed. So Harden locked in a little more than $16 million more guaranteed than what his original player option was going to be for.
Mitchell to re-sign with the Thunder: 3 years, "nearly $9 million" (Shams 6/29)
Utah gives up Sexton in a head scratcher (Shams, Fischer the pick details 6/29)
Hornets receive:
Similar to the Ball-Okoro trade yesterday, I kept waiting for follow up details of other picks that never came. Charlotte received a (bad) 1st round pick in order to take on Nurkic's salary at the trade deadline, and now they're getting a better player AND draft compensation in exchange for him? The Suns have to be sick seeing this.
It leaves the Hornets with practically no size up front after already dealing Williams the other day, but it's not like Nurkic is a difference maker anyway. Now they have proven guard depth behind the oft-injured LaMello Ball and rookie Kon Knueppel and still plenty of flexibility with about $23 million of room under the luxury tax and the full MLE at their disposal.
Utah had that Clippers pick as an extra 2nd rounder, but I really don't understand using it here. They already have a crowded front court with Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, John Collins, Taylor Hendricks, and Kyle Filipowski, but they really needed to add an ineffective soon-to-be 31 year old to the mix? I'm sure there will be other moves involving those players and that this is more to give opportunities to their younger guards, but the value proposition here is confounding.
Randle to re-sign with the Timberwolves: 3 years, $100 million (Shams 6/29)
So Randle didn't end up really taking a haircut off of his $30,935,520 player option for this season, but I think this does slightly help Minnesota's position against the Second Apron by eliminating his bonuses that still count for it, even if they're deemed unlikely. With there basically nowhere else for Randle to get paid this much, it's a fair deal to keep a Western Conference Finals team's starting lineup in tact, at least in the short term. It also most likely confirms that Alexander-Walker is headed for his payday elsewhere.
Williams to re-sign with the Thunder: 3 years, $24 million (Shams 6/29)
In a bigger sense than with Edwards below and just like OKC did last year with Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins (and Lu Dort before that), this is a great use of leveraging a team option and restricted free agency. Since Williams' $2,187,699 team option was removed as part of this, it's basically like he got a 2 year, $21.8 million extension, just with the cap hits spread out over three years. Based on how they've structured those previous deals with a declining structure, I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up as $8,450,704/$7,774,648/$7,774,648.
With the last year another team option to do this process again in two years, it's around $13.2 million in newly guaranteed money after he only made about $6 million in his first three seasons. The selection of another big man with the 15th pick this week, Thomas Sorber, raised some questions about Williams' long-term outlook, but it probably is more indicative of planning to decline Isaiah Hartenstein's own team option for the 2026-27 season. In any case, it looks like J-Will and J-Dub will continue playing together for at least the next two seasons, and after yesterday's trade, the Thunder are about $2.5 million under the tax line with a full 15 player roster, pending a similar "decline and re-sign" for Mitchell.
Update: Marks confirmed that it will actually be a front-loaded structure like I speculated above, which makes sense for the player to get as much as possible before potentially having the option declined.
Oklahoma City creates a roster spot (Shams first, Scotto the pick details 6/28)
Wizards receive:
Temple to re-sign with the Raptors: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 6/28)
As a veteran of over 10 years, he'll earn about $3.6 million with this cap hit to continue to be a locker room presence after playing in just 27 and 28 games the past two seasons for Toronto for a total of 516 minutes. it's good work if you can get it, especially at age 39.
Merrill to re-sign with the Cavaliers: 4 years, $38 million (Shams 6/28)
After the Ball trade this morning, it seemed like Cleveland was more likely to choose Merrill as the free agent to retain, especially with Jerome's expected price tag, and now the sharpshooter will make a little more this season than his first five years combined. Not only has he shot 38.8% on threes over the last two seasons, but he's done it on 5.5 attempts per game...in only 18.7 minutes. That's 10.5 attempts per 36 minutes, and being that kind of threat provides a lot of value.
I'd guess that 2nd rounder Tyrese Proctor gets the rookie minimum and Chuma Okeke's $2.5 million team option gets replaced with a veteran minimum, so then one more vet signing to fill out the roster wil put them almost $21 million into the Second Apron. Gozlan projects that tax bill to be almost $164 million on top of their $228.6 million of salaries for a total cost of $392 million.
Mitchell to re-sign with the Heat: 2 years, $24 million (Shams 6/28)
This is a touch more in average salary than I might've expected for Mitchell given that he was facing restricted free agency, but he did finish the season well with Miami after arriving at the trade deadline. Keeping it a shorter commitment was probably the tradeoff on the team side, and that isn't the worst thing in the world for someone who entered the league on the older side. Turning 27 in September, he could potentially cash in one more time two years from now.
This puts the Heat about $5.8 million into the luxury tax for now, but Duncan Robinson's $19,888,000 salary, assuming doesn't exercise his Early Termination Option, is only guaranteed for $9,888,000.
Chicago trades former Laker to a contender (again) (Shams 6/28)
Cavaliers receive:
Bulls receive:
There haven't been any other details about draft compensation going Chicago's way, so this feels reminiscent of the Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey trade last year...except Okoro hasn't even proven himself as a starting player and is already on a questionable second contract. They were confident enough in Ball's checkered injury history to sign him to this extension just a few months ago, but apparently those availability concerns were strong enough that this was all they could now trade him for?
This trade can't become official until July 6th when Ball's salary drops from the $21,395,348 on his last contract to this new number, and taking back more salary like this will hard-cap the Bulls at the First Apron...not that it likely matters since Jerry Reinsdorf is typically too cheap to go into even the luxury tax anyway. Heavy tax concerns are a reason why it was expected to be tough for Cleveland to retain Ty Jerome, fresh off of finishing third in Sixth Man voting, and now they got thrown a life raft with this chance to replace him in exchange for Okoro, who only averaged 19.1 minutes on their 64 win team. Even if it doesn't work out with Ball, they can simply decline the team option and save a ton off of their giant luxury tax bill compared to what Okoro is guaranteed.
Reid to re-sign with the Timberwolves: 5 years, $125 million (Shams 6/27)
There was some thought that Reid could pick up his $15,022,464 player option and extend off of that in order to help Minnesota's tax situation this season, but that would've limited him to 4 years, $94.2 million for a total of $109.2 million over these same five years. A day after the NBA Draft concluded, this former undrafted player shows that you can still work your way up from a Two-Way contract in 2019 to winning Sixth Man of the Year two seasons ago, and now he has $125 million guaranteed.
Whether or not Reid remains in that sixth man role will depend on the Wolves' next domino to fall with Julius Randle's $30,935,520 player option of his own. If he picks it up, they'll be pretty close to the Second Apron, and re-signing their third key free agent, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, would definitely put them into it again. I don't think Randle will leave since the Nets, who just took a record five 1st round picks, are the only team that could offer him that type of money, but maybe he opts out for a longer deal with a smaller starting salary to help their tax bill.
Edwards to re-sign with 76ers: 3 year deal (Shams 6/27)
This type of "decline and re-sign" has become one of my favorite little cap maneuvers with Edwards getting a slight bump up from his $1,955,377 team option for this season and another guaranteed year in exchange for Philadelphia having a cost-controlled contract.
A former top recruit for Kentucky in 2023, he went undrafted and signed a Two-Way contract last summer before carving out enough of a role to get converted to a minimum contract with that team option since Philly didn't have have any type of exception to sign him with on a longer deal. They had the leverage to either pick up the option and let things play out ahead of restricted free agency next summer, or decline it to re-sign with Non-Bird Rights like this. With Shams reporting that the first two years are guaranteed, I'm projecting that the last season will have another team option in order to play out this same process again since Edwards would still be facing restricted free agency with three years of experience if they declined it again.
7/6 Update: Scotto confirmed that the last year is another team option.
Holiday, Green, and Tate to re-sign with the Rockets (Shams 6/27)
I guess the phrasing of the reporting answers the question of whether Houston was going to pick up Holiday's $4,901,400 team option. I'm estimating the veteran minimum for each of them based on their roles last year and the team's finances that I've mentioned multiple times below, and since Holiday has seven years of service, he projects to still make about $3.1 million while coming with this cheaper cap hit that's subsidized by the league. After the surprising 2/$19.2 million overpay to join the team for his respected presence, Green will make about $3.6 million as a vet of 10+ years, and Tate will get about $2.7 million with his 5 years of experience.
Bringing back these solid professionals who know their roles puts the Rockets about $1 million below the luxury tax with 14 players. As mentioned before, Landale's $8 million salary is still non-guaranteed for a couple of days, so they could waive him in order to use the full MLE while staying under the First Apron. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered someone about $8.8 million of the MLE since that projects to be the same amount as the Room MLE but would still keep them out of the tax. Landale could also be used as matching salary (to go with Whitmore as the potential draw) in a trade if a suitable deal is found, so live I've continued to say, they're a potentially great team that still has flexibility.
6:30 Update: Scotto reported it as "$3 million" for Tate, which tracks with what I put above since agents typically round it up, and Iko confirms that it's the minimum for Green and Holiday.
Charlotte trades away Williams (again) (Shams 6/25)
Suns receive:
2029 2nd round pick (their own pick, returned)
Hornets receive:
#29 pick
2029 1st round pick (Worst of Cavaliers, Jazz, and Timberwolves [protected 1-5])
The timing of this was interesting right after Khaman Maluach surprisingly fell to them with the 10th pick, but both are great values to fill the need at center. Williams' failed physical with the Lakers must've really tanked his stock around the league for the difference in compensation here since he was originally going to return Dalton Knecht, the Lakers' 2031 1st, and a 2030 swap, which would've offered much more upside than two picks likely at the end of the 1st.
I was curious what salary Phoenix will be sending out since that wasn't initially reported, and then 23 minutes later, Fischer added that Vasilije Micic is heading back to Charlotte. This comes after he had just gone the other way in the Jusuf Nurkic salary dump in February since this is the third trade between these teams in six months. That works out for Micic because his team option likely wouldn't have been picked up without a trade, so now he gets $8.1 million guaranteed instead of heading back overseas as rumored. The curious part is that the Suns adding this salary ($3.5 million more than the #29 pick's slotted amount) instead of declining that option definitely doesn't help them get under the Second Apron, and this is the last tradable 1st rounder that they had due to the Stepien rule since they were already without one in 2026 and 2031. Even with only 12 players, they now project to need to shed about $15 million, and while Cody Martin's $8.68 million and Nick Richards' $5 million are non-guaranteed, they have value.
6/30 Update: In the Suns' press release with the trade now official, they revealed that they received their 2029 2nd round pick back in this deal, which wasn't originally reported, so I added it above. That helps make adding more salary palatable, either for them to use the pick themselves or to attach it to a salary dump.
VanVleet to re-sign with the Rockets: 2 years, $50 million (Shams 6/25)
This could be structured as $24,038,462 and $25,961,538 for slightly room now, but after Houston declined the $44,886,930 team option in order to negotiate this deal, I'm guessing that VanVleet will get more up front before potentially deciding on a player option this time. There will be more than one team with significant cap space next summer compared to now to give him more leverage for one last pay day when he will be 32.
In his offseason preview on Spotrac, Smith nailed it by suggesting an average salary of $25 million, and. this opens up the possibility of using the full MLE. Right now the Rockets are about $3 million away from the luxury tax and $11 million from the First Apron that would be triggered by using an amount more than the Taxpayer MLE. If they waive Landale and fill out the roster with minimums, they could use the full $14.1 million amount while staying under the Apron. If they also decline Holiday's team option, they could use about $9 million of it while still staying under the tax line to delay the clock on the repeater penalty that will likely come in a few years.
Update: My suspicions were correct about the flat rate, per Iko.
Irving to re-sign with the Mavs: 3 years, $119 million (Shams 6/24)
This almost exactly mirrors the $120 million 2+1 deal that Irving signed in 2023 after being traded to Dallas, which Gozlan and some other analysts predicted when looking at the finances. He opted out of the $42,962,963 in the last year of that contract in order to lock in about $76 million more guaranteed and give them more operating room under the Second Apron. Now they could use the Taxpayer MLE pretty safely, potentially on his fill-in as he recovers from a torn ACL.
Boston, Atlanta, and Brooklyn pull off three-teamer (Fischer/Stein had it imminent, Shams the details 6/24)
Hawks receive:
Nets receive:
Celtics receive:
In less than 24 hours, Boston accomplished their goal of getting out of the Second Apron, and I think that they have about $4.5 million in breathing room to offer Al Horford. Brooklyn already had picks 8, 19, 26, 27, and 36, so perhaps this is even more ammunition to trade up for Ace Bailey? This is another one that won't become official until the new league year when the Nets can take Mann into their huge amount of cap space in order to pick up this 1st rounder.
When factoring in the $3.4 million salary for that pick, Atlanta is really only adding about $3.6 million in salary with this deal, albeit with a couple more roster spots needed to fill. At just that cost, Porzingis is a worthwhile gamble, especially if they didn't love Mann's contract that they took in at the trade deadline. He'll be an interesting fit as a screener for Trae Young and could potentially still play next to Oneyka Onkongwu in bigger lineups, with Okongwu capable of starting if Porzingis has more health issues. They still project to be over $27 million away from the tax line for further moves, and as Fischer (who added the detail of one of the picks) has reported, there's the $25.3 million Trade Exception from the Murray deal burning a hole in their pocket. With the East looking pretty open due to the infamous injuries in the playoffs, they could take their shot to fill the void.
Scotto provided the details of the 2nd rounder that the Celtics sent the Hawks as part of this and adds that the Nets have coveted Mann in the past, so getting an extra 1st to take him on is a coup. I think there still needs to be a detail of them sending something out to Boston to finalize this deal come July 6th, but it could just be something as simple as old draft rights. The Celtics will create a $22.5 million Trade Exception (the difference in the Porzingis and Niang salaries) that they aren't likely to use this season while they stay under the Second Apron, but it could be a useful tool at the start of next July when Tatum is hopefully healthy.
New Orleans and Washington swap guards (Haynes first, Shams the details 6/24)
Pelicans receive:
So less than 16 hours after last night's surprising deal, here's another exchange of guards that you might not have expected. At least in this case I could see the reasoning for both sides at a basic level: New Orleans gets the younger player (26 versus nearly 34) to try and improve now while Washington gets off of next year's salary to continue their rebuild. Now McCollum and Olynyk join Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart as veteran locker room voices on who could get moved by the trade deadline with their expiring contracts.
I don't think Poole's contract was drastically killing the Wizards' books, but they are now set up to have massive cap space next summer with likely over $95 million to play with depending on where their 1st round pick ends up. Even with adding salary here, they're still about $12.6 million away from the tax line and have non-guaranteed contracts to waive if needed. It also doesn't hurt that this should open up more shots for their young core to stretch their wings more. Conversely for New Orleans, Poole can provide more dynamic playmaking than McCollum, which could be needed with Dejounte Murray recovering from his Achilles injury.
They Bey inclusion is interesting after Washington signed him a year ago knowing that he'd miss the whole season with a torn ACL. If healthy, the 26 year old could end up a great value on this contract and be well worth the 34 year old Olynyk, even if the latter provided a nice stretch big component. The $6 million that the Pelicans will save this season will give them some nice cushion from the luxury tax after they've had to maneuver to get under it in recent years. Finally, I think they can create a $13.4 million Trade Exception for Olynyk's salary by taking Bey into the Jonas Valanciunas Trade Exception from last July when they dealt him...to the Wizards.
Update: The future 2nd rounder involved is Chicago's protected 2027 2nd rounder, per Joshua Robbins. Washington already owned the other part of that protection, so now they'll be guaranteed the pick.
Boston and Portland swap guards (Shams 6/23)
Celtics receive:
Trail Blazers receive:
It almost feels like something is missing because Boston being the side that receives draft capital, however small, on top of getting younger and cheaper is stunning. They still project to be about $18 million into the Second Apron with a couple roster spots to fill, but this gets them on the path to potentially getting out of it while trimming $40 million off their tax bill, per Marks, due to how deep into it they are. Plus they got picks that are far enough into the future, per Jake Fischer, that they could end up with real upside, on top of a player who could provide more scoring that they'll need in the absence of Jayson Tatum this season. Even if they lose Simons in free agency next year, this resets their books while actually adding assets instead of having to give any up. If both sides did want to extend, the most that they could agree to would be $104,624,998 ($33,214,285/$34,874,999/$36,535,714) until the six month trade limits lift.
The irony here is that Portland flipped Holiday two years ago after acquiring him in the Damian Lillard trade. This presumably means that extension talks with Simons weren't going well, but a lottery team turning a 26 year old into a 35 year old with two pretty expensive seasons after this one is pretty confusing. I say this as someone who's been a Jrue fan for 17 years now, but he's definitely on the back-end of his career. You'd think he's more of someone who can help a contender get over the hump again rather than a young team trying to break through.
A glass half full view would be that Holiday will help a defense that turned the corner over the second half of last season maintain that level, and replacing a scorer like Simons with this kind of vet will help redirect more offense to Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe to take the next step. Maybe that'll be true, but giving up real value to take on that contract at his age could be a pretty costly risk. This will hard-cap Portland at the First Apron, but I don't expect that to matter since they're not typically a team that goes into even the luxury tax, which they're now about $6.6 million shy of, assuming Matisse Thybulle picks up his $11.55 million option.
6/24 Update: As expected, Thybulle did opt in (how timely), and both Smith and Sean Highkin followed up on this deal saying that it's not expected to become official until July 6th in the new league year. Doing so provides more time to potentially expand the deal with other moves and will allow Boston to create a slightly larger Trade Exception for the difference in salaries for the upcoming season, $4.7 million, versus this past season, $4.1 million, with two weeks longer to use it.
7/7 Update: Aaron Fentress reports that after a review of Holiday's medicals, Portland will no longer be sending the 2nd round picks that were previously reported. They're not concerned enough to scuttle the trade overall, which is notable, but it'll now just be a straight player for player swap.
Mavericks to re-sign Gafford: 3 years, $54 million (Shams first, Stein the details 6/23)
Gafford figured to be a popular trade target on an expiring deal given how crowded the Dallas front court got after trading for Anthony Davis even before winning the Cooper Flagg lottery. Perhaps PJ Washington will be the trade piece to get them a point guard instead with Kyrie Irving's status in flux. Right now they seemingly project to be forced to play Flagg almost exclusively at small forward next to Davis, Gafford, Dereck Lively, and Washington at power forward and center, and you have to figure that Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall will also play a decent amount of SF, as well. Some kind of trade to clear this log jam would be helpful, especially with the team flirting with the Second Apron.
Interestingly, Shams first reported it as "nearly $60 million" before Marc Stein provided a more precise figure of $54 million, which is quite a bit different. Given how rooted he is in Dallas, I'll defer to Stein here over the rather generous report that makes Gafford's agent look better. Based on tall of that, it would seem that he got a 120% raise on his current salary with 5% raises for the numbers above, totaling $54,380,299. Going with that structure would remove a six-month trade restriction, so there could potentially still be a later move.
KD returns to Texas (Shams 6/22)
Rockets receive:
Suns receive:
#59 pick
2026 2nd round pick (2nd-best of Mavericks, Thunder, or 76ers)
2026 2nd round pick (Lesser of Clippers and [best of Celtics/Heat/Pacers])
2030 Celtics 2nd round pick
2032 Rockets 2nd round pick
As Marks and Yossi Gozlan pointed out, Brooks' contract having a $1 million incentive in his contract for making the playoffs is key here since it now becomes "unlikely" due to the Suns not qualifying last season and reverts to the numbers above. Without that lower cap number, they wouldn't be able to make this deal as constructed since they can't take in more salary than they're sending out as a team over the First Apron. The fact that they'll end up actually adding salary with the #10 pick's eventual contract (starting at about $6 million) is shocking since getting out of the Second Apron was a priority, so I'd guess that Green will be re-routed, especially since his fit as another expensive shooting guard next to Devin Booker and Bradley Beal doesn't make a ton of sense.
I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up a three-team deal once Phoenix finds Green's new home with Houston sending out a touch more money so that they won't be hard-capped at the First Apron, though I've seen mixed reports about whether the incentives in Brooks' contract will count as both teams sending out more money than they're receiving, which is fascinating. As it stands, they could waive Landale and decline the team options on VanVleet and Holiday before filling out the roster with minimums and re-signing VanVleet to a starting salary of around $31.8 million to avoid the Tax or up to $39.8 million while staying under the First Apron. That is to say, they still have a lot of flexibility and draft capital for other moves once they figure out the number for FVV, who feels like a great fit, along with Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun, to create offense both around and for Durant. Jeff Green has already talked about wanting to be back as a veteran locker room presence and that would make even more sense after he and KD played their first three and a half seasons together before another year in Brooklyn. Durant is also close with assistant coach Royal Ivey from both OKC and Brooklyn, and one more reunion will be with the newly re-signed Adams.
It felt like the Suns trying to get back their 2027 and/or 2029 1st rounders was going to be a key to this deal, but in the end the Rockets only had to return this year's pick and two starters without touching too much depth. With how much Jabari Smith has started before the second half of this past season, they could just plug him back in or put Tari Eason into Brooks' role, and Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore (who has #7 despite what fan edits of KD might tell you) can move a spot up in the bench pecking order. Phoenix cornering themselves with no leverage really hurt them trying to get any of the above, so they better nail this draft pick that they were so desperate to lock in that they agreed to this on the morning of Game 7 of the Finals rather than wait one more day. The five 2nd rounders were a bit of an out of left field inclusion as a sweetener (for both this and future deals), and I detailed them above based on what John Gambadoro and Siegel reported and what Houston had to offer, though none promise to have a ton of upside at the moment.
I've always been a fan of Green's talent going back to the 2018 Team USA U-17's and him helping to launch the G-League Ignite, but he never seemed to gain Udoka's trust despite some spectacular high points. Only 23, hopefully the change of scenery helps the former #2 overall pick look the part of the headliner of this deal for another former #2 pick that became an all-time great. Even as Durant gets up there in age, he's still an impact player as evidenced by averaging 26.6 points, 6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks with elite 52.7%/43%/83.9% shooting and the Suns going 33-29 when he played compared to just 3-17 without him and a -4.9 difference in net rating. The real issue was how Booker, Beal, and him didn't mesh with a -4.1 net rating in 667 minutes together. They only had a 19-18 record (42.11 wins over 82 games) when playing together this season compared to 13-6 (56.11 wins) with just KD and Book. Talk of a Beal buyout at a lower number than the $110,794,880 he's owed over the next two years seems drastic, but perhaps that's how they get salary relief if there isn't a follow up move that flips Green.
6/23 Update: Upon reading the analysis of the trade from Gozlan and Keith Smith, it does appear that the likely bonus reverting to unlikely for Brooks will allow for a loophole of both teams technically sending out more salary than they're receiving. The total money involved matching so closely amazingly allows both of them to avoid being limited by the First Apron without needing to involve a third team like we're often seeing nowadays.
There's also been further expansion from Shams on his report of what Miami offered as the runner up in this sweepstakes, which the Miami Herald confirmed. After Tyrese Haliburton's tragic Achilles injury hours after this deal went down, you have to really wonder if the Heat regret not offering more with the Hall of Famer there for the taking and open to extending with them now that the East is even more wide open. It's really incredible that after how long this process took that Phoenix couldn't wait one more day to settle for what's on the table to see if there's an improved offer after the Finals, let alone take away from the moment of a Game 7. There's also the fact that Five Reasons Sports previously reported that Miami offered Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic, and a 1st round pick for Durant at the trade deadline before Mat Ishbia got involved, but talking about how much Phoenix mismanaged things since Durant's arrival would take up this whole post.
Indiana's devastating loss of both the championship and their star for next season certainly puts a new perspective on the seemingly minor trade below this for next year's draft pick that might now end up higher without him.
6/26 Update: In addition to Maluach mentioned above as Phoenix's selection with the 10th pick from this trade, they traded three of the 2nd rounders from this trade (the weaker 2026 pick, 2030, and 2032) along with one that they previously had for the #31 pick, Rasheer Fleming. They also used the #59 pick to move up from #52 to #41 for a dead-eye shooter in Koby Brea. So four of the five 2nd rounders in the Durant trade were already used overall, and since that was basically the cost of the Fleming sweepstakes to start the day, you could almost count the final tally here as Green, Brooks, Maluach, Fleming, and a 2026 2nd (2nd-best of Mavericks, Thunder, or 76ers) with how the board fell to them.
Indy and New Orleans swap picks (Shams 6/17)
Pelicans receive:
#23 pick
Draft rights to Mojave King (47th pick in 2023)
Pacers receive:
Their 2026 1st round pick back
There were some rumblings of Indiana trading their pick this year in order to help reduce salary since the expected re-signing of Myles Turner will likely take them into the luxury tax, and getting their 1st back is a nice solution. Previously dealt in the Pascal Siakam trade, it was only top-4 protected through 2027 before converting to two 2nd rounders, so the current Eastern Conference champions were assuredly not going to have it next year. Now they have all of their future 1st rounders under control to open up trade possibilities, and those two 2nd rounders that this pick was unlikely to convert to are also unlocked again.
The draft rights to a 2nd rounder from two years ago being involved here probably won't amount to anything as King hasn't show much improvement in the G League or back in the Australian NBL. He's only turning 24 next month, but I'm guessing the Pels just wanted something else to throw into future trades when they're required to send anything out like a fake 2nd or cash. Moving the pick forward is a solid deal for them since there's a good chance that the Pacers finish with an even better record next year for a worse pick. It also gives New Orleans more tangible draft capital now as they reportedly are looking to move up from their #7 slot for Ace Bailey, per Kevin O'Connor and Brett Siegel.
Bane surprisingly lands in Orlando (Shams 6/15)
Magic receive:
Grizzlies receive:
Okay Houston extending one of their own guys is one thing, but a blockbuster like this going down with the NBA Finals sitting at 2-2 is pretty crazy. So much for the Anfernee Simons and Jordan Poole rumors for Orlando now that they've used most of their draft capital here, so I guess they're confident in the playmaking of Jalen Suggs with Bane in the back court to make things easier on Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. They still have the #25 pick in this month's draft along with two 2nd rounders, but now the only future 1st rounder they could trade will be in 2032.
Bane brings much-needed shooting (career 41% on 6.3 per game, 7.7 per 36 minutes) to a team that was last in both made threes and 3P%, and he has also averaged over 5 assists in each of the last two seasons. Providing pretty stout defense along with averaging 21.1 points over the past three seasons since his breakout year, he's become a complete guard who should compliment the strengths of Suggs and Anthony Black well. About to turn 27 on the day of the draft, the 4 years and $163 million left on his deal that was slightly below the 25% max when he signed should be a good value as the cap continues to rise. He'll be a tough loss for Memphis, but a package this large is hard to turn down as they continue to make changes after firing Taylor Jenkins late in the season.
They didn't have a 1st rounder in this draft after using it to salary dump Marcus Smart, and now this trade also has a side benefit of opening up about $2 million more in cap space to use in a renegotiation-and-extension with Jaren Jackson Jr. (though the #16 pick's salary would negate that if kept). Getting off of a little more salary, with John Konchar's name often brought up, could still be needed to get JJJ's extension number comparable to his max offer from other teams next summer.
The funny thing about the 2026 1st is that the Grizzlies already had some access to the Suns' pick. After Phoenix "horcruxed" their 1st rounder that year by giving secondary swap rights to Orlando after Washington had that option, they then gave Memphis further swap rights after those two. I guess now the Grizz will be able to swap either their own pick or the Magic's for the lesser of the Suns' or Wizards', and Jason Beede reports that the 2029 swap only has top-2 protection. With the ages of Orlando's core players, this total package could end up being two rotation caliber guards (with this pressing reset on last year's KCP contract), the #16 pick, a likely lottery pick from either the Suns or Wizards, two picks in the 20's, and maybe a swap for another pick in the 20's...but you never know with those two unprotected picks 3+ years down the line.
6/16: Michael Scotto adds today that Orlando declined the team options of Gary Harris ($7,500,000) and Cory Joseph ($3,468,960) in conjunction with the trade, and both teams announced the deal already yesterday. This is always a tricky time before the official league year ends on June 30th, and this straightforward pretty much had to occur before the flip because Caldwell-Pope's $22,757,000 and Anthony's $12,900,000 "current" salaries combine for more than Bane's $34,005,250 right now. That's not the case come July 1st, and the Magic need to be sending out more than they're taking in so that they aren't hard-capped by the First Apron, which the Grizzlies now will be instead. Orlando will instead be hard-capped at the Second Apron due to aggregating salaries, and as Bobby Marks pointed out, that's why they had to decline the Harris and Joseph options since the new Second Apron line hasn't been officially set yet. They still have Bird Rights on Harris to re-sign him if they want, and since Joseph was just on a minimum, he'll actually make slightly more with a new minimum that's projected to be $3,634,148 for a 10+ year vet due to the rising cap.
Rockets extend Adams: 3 years, $39 million (Shams 6/14)
Update: I almost didn't include that second estimate of a front loaded deal and only did so since it starts so similarly to the MLE, but I'm glad I did because Smith reports that it's exactly that. The $31.7 million figure that VanVleet would need to take for them to take did seem a little low, so this structure for Adams could be an indicator that they're willing to pay the tax this season with the small costs if you're only slightly into the threshold. They'll still have a good amount of flexibility under the First Apron, so that might be the focus.
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