Hoops Rumors’ 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker

October 20th, 2017 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

With the 2017/18 NBA regular season underway, the 2017 offseason has officially come to an end, and Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players signed new contracts over the last several months.

To that end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, years, salary, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

Contract years and dollars are sometimes based on what’s been reported to date, so in a few cases those amounts may be approximations rather than official figures. Listed salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either — deals marked with a † symbol are primarily non-guaranteed.
Two-way contracts and draft pick signings aren’t included in the tracker.
Click on a player’s name for our full report on his deal.
If you’re viewing the tracker on mobile, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.
Now that the offseason has come to an end, we won’t be continuing to update the tracker with in-season moves.

Our 2017 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the desktop site. You can find it on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the NBA players who have yet to reach contract agreements, or who were waived after being signed.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Blazers Sign Wade Baldwin To Two-Way Contract

October 20th, 2017 at 8:40am CST by Austin Kent

OCTOBER 20: The Blazers have officially signed Baldwin to a two-way contract, the team announced in a press release.

OCTOBER 19: The Blazers and free agent point guard Wade Baldwin have agreed on a two-way deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. The 21-year-old was waived by the Grizzlies earlier in the week.

Baldwin will join a Portland franchise that has done a particularly good job developing guards over the years, most notably their star backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Considering Baldwin’s potential heading into his rookie campaign as a first-round pick last season, it will be interesting to see if the change of scenery serves him well.

Baldwin averaged just 3.2 points per game in limited time on the court last season but spent the summer in competition with Andrew Harrison for a role off the bench in Memphis. In Portland, Baldwin will set out to steal minutes from incumbent backup Shabazz Napier if and when he gets a shot with the NBA club.

While Baldwin’s contract will be a two-way deal, the Blazers currently lack a direct G League affiliate, so it’s not yet clear which G League club he’ll suit up for this season.

2017 Offseason In Review: Miami Heat

October 19th, 2017 at 11:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2017 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2017/18 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Miami Heat.

Signings:

James Johnson: Four years, $60.002MM. Fourth-year player option.
Dion Waiters: Four years, $47.3MM.
Kelly Olynyk: Four years, $45.611MM. Fourth-year player option.
Jordan Mickey: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year team option.
Udonis Haslem: One year, minimum salary.
Derrick Walton Jr.: Two-way contract. One year. $50K guaranteed.

Camp invitees:

Larry Drew II: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10. (Waived)
Erik McCree: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10. (Waived)
Matt Williams: One year, minimum salary. Summer contract. (Converted to two-way contract)
DeAndre Liggins: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed. (Waived)
Tony Mitchell: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed. (Waived)

Trades:

Acquired A.J. Hammons from the Mavericks in exchange for Josh McRoberts, the Heat’s 2023 second-round pick, and cash ($5.1MM).

Draft picks:

1-14: Bam Adebayo — Signed to rookie contract.

Extensions:

Josh Richardson: Four years, $41.965MM.

Departing players:

Luke Babbitt
Chris Bosh (waived; medical retirement)
Josh McRoberts
Willie Reed

Other offseason news:

Purchased a controlling interest in the Sioux Falls Skyforce; will now own and operate the G League affiliate.
Rodney McGruder to miss three to six months with leg injury.
Exercised 2018/19 rookie scale option on Justise Winslow.

Salary cap situation:

Used up cap room. Now operating over the cap, but well under the tax. Carrying approximately $100MM in guaranteed team salary. Room exception ($4.328MM) still available.

Check out the Miami Heat’s full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.

Story of the summer:

An annual threat to land the top players on the free agent market, the Heat are an appealing possible destination for stars for a variety of reasons, including the head coach, the management team, the culture, and – not least of all – the climate. As such, it’s no surprise that the front office went after Gordon Hayward this offseason — the All-Star forward wasn’t the best free agent on the market, but he was probably the best one who legitimately considered changing teams.

For the second straight year, however, the Heat secured a meeting with the summer’s top free agent, only to be eliminated from consideration early. A year ago, Kevin Durant passed on the allure of South Beach, and this time around, Hayward’s decision ultimately came down to Utah vs. Boston.

A lack of recent success chasing stars won’t necessarily diminish Pat Riley‘s enthusiasm for pursuing them in future offseasons, but it did force him to change directions this year. Rather than locking up a bunch of players to one-year contracts and rolling over their cap space to the summer of 2018, the Heat made lucrative, long-term commitments to a handful of players after missing out on Hayward.

James Johnson went from a one-year deal worth $4MM to a four-year deal worth $60MM. Dion Waiters, coming off a contract that paid him less than $3MM for one year, inked a four-year pact worth $47MM+. Josh Richardson wasn’t a free agent, but he got a new contract too, signing an extension that will bump his salary from the minimum this year to more than $10MM annually for the next four seasons.

It’s an intriguing strategy for the Heat, one that probably eliminates any chance they had of making a free agent splash in 2018. There are many movable contracts on the roster, so targeting stars on the trade market will still be an option. But Miami’s Plan B this summer suggests that Riley – in the years between legit title contention – is far more comfortable putting together a solid, but unspectacular, roster capable of making the playoffs than he would be blowing things up in search of potential star power in the draft.

Key offseason losses:

The remaining members of the Heat’s Big Three played their final games with the club back in 2015/16, before Dwyane Wade left in free agency and Chris Bosh was sidelined with blood clot issues. However, Bosh technically remained on the roster through the 2016/17 campaign, having been officially waived just this spring. Miami was able to remove his remaining cap hits from the club’s books as a result of Bosh’s medical retirement.

Obviously, the big man’s departure won’t have an on-court impact on the Heat from last year to this year, since he didn’t appear in a single game last season. Nonetheless, Bosh was a significant part of the Heat’s most recent championship teams, and his departure represents the official end of an era in Miami.

As for the departing players who actually played in 2016/17, none are irreplaceable. Willie Reed (5.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG) was a productive backup center behind Hassan Whiteside, and Luke Babbitt (.414 3PT%) was an effective sharpshooter during his lone season with the Heat, but both players only averaged about 15 minutes per game.

The club also parted ways with Josh McRoberts this offseason, bringing his frustrating tenure in Miami to an end. While McRoberts would have been a nice fit for the Heat if he had been able to stay on the court, injuries limited him to just 81 games in three seasons with the organization.

Key offseason additions:

The Heat’s most notable offseason acquisition was big man Kelly Olynyk, whose arrival in Miami was indirectly as a result of the club’s inability to land Hayward. When the Celtics secured a commitment from Hayward, they had to rescind their qualifying offer to Olynyk in order to maximize their cap room. At that point, the Heat pounced on the newly unrestricted Olynyk, agreeing to terms with him just a few hours later.

A former lottery pick, Olynyk was a solid rotation piece in Boston, but even after a memorable performance against the Wizards in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals earlier this year, he wasn’t viewed as a marquee free agent. The Heat’s willingness to offer him a four-year contract worth over $45MM was a surprise, and I’ll be curious to see how he fits in the team’s frontcourt alongside Whiteside.

The Heat are a smart franchise, and they’re renowned for an intense conditioning program that helps get the most out of players. If they were eager to bring Olynyk into the mix, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they have a vision for how he’ll make the team better.

Outside of Olynyk, the team’s offseason additions were limited. Miami used its 14th overall pick on Bam Adebayo, but he’s an unfinished product at just 20 years old, and is unlikely to play a major role in his rookie season. Elsewhere in the frontcourt, free agent signee Jordan Mickey is more likely to earn a rotation spot than A.J. Hammons, who was a throw-in in a trade with the Mavericks and will likely be first on the chopping block if the Heat need to open up a roster spot.

Outlook for 2017/18:

Despite finishing last season on a 30-11 run, this Heat club almost certainly doesn’t have a 60-win ceiling. It’s a solid roster, and players like Whiteside and Goran Dragic are perhaps borderline stars, but neither of them is equipped to be the best player on a serious championship contender — a playoff appearance is possible and a postseason series win isn’t entirely out of the question, but that’s probably as far as Miami can hope to go in 2017/18.

That’s not bad, but it’s also not the sort of season Riley has grown accustomed to. It will be interesting to see whether he remains patient and sticks with the current version of this Heat team, or if he gets antsy and looks to make a major move or two at this season’s trade deadline.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Southeast Notes: Schroder, Oubre Jr., Carter-Williams

October 19th, 2017 at 9:58pm CST by Austin Kent

It wasn’t long ago when Hawks guard Dennis Schroder was regarded as an up-and-coming star. Lately, however, the market has soured on the German export. In a fan mailbag column, Chris Mannix of The Vertical writes that there’s a toxicity surrounding the 24-year-old that has limited his trade value.

Given that newly appointed Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk has been dead set on clearing cap room and maintaining financial flexibility, it seems logical that he would be looking to unload the final four years of Schroder’s contract. In reality, however, it may not be so simple.

While the idea of finding a buyer for Schroder a season or two seemed incredibly easy, concerns around the league about the guard’s maturity – especially after a recent assault charge – have limited what the Hawks could get for him.

In that case, Mannix writes, unless the Hawks want to give the 17.9-point-per-game guard away for next to nothing, they’d be better off sticking with him and hoping that he matures into a player they’re comfortable building around.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Point guard Michael Carter-Williams will have to wait to make his debut with the Hornets. Although the guard was recently cleared for contact, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports that he suffered a setback on Monday that will bump back his timeline.
If Kelly Oubre can play as he did in Washington’s season opener, he may well find a bigger role than the one he saw with the Wizards last season. As Candace Buckner of the Washington Post writes, Oubre thrived when he subbed in for Jason Smith, making a strong case to earn more minutes in a small ball version of the team’s lineup.
The Hawks have named Michelle Leftwich their new vice president of salary cap administration, Marc Stein of the New York Times writes. She’ll work alongside general manager Travis Schlenk.

Knicks Will Sign Isaiah Hicks To Two-Way Contract

October 19th, 2017 at 9:20pm CST by Austin Kent

The Knicks are planning to sign forward Isaiah Hicks to a two-way contract, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. The North Carolina alum went through training camp with the Hornets earlier this month.

After going undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft, the Tar Heel will look to make an impression with the franchise bouncing between the New York squad and the Knicks’ G League affiliate in Westchester.

Once the move becomes official, both of the Knicks’ two-way slots will be filled, with center Luke Kornet occupying the other one.

Pacific Notes: Green, Kings, Clippers

October 19th, 2017 at 7:48pm CST by Austin Kent

The results from Draymond Green‘s MRI have come back negative, Chris Haynes of ESPN writes. The Warriors forward injured his knee in Tuesday’s season opener, missing the entire fourth quarter.

While it’s likely Green misses time as a result of the injury that had him limping in the team’s first game, the good news for the Warriors is that there was no structural damage that would necessitate a longer absence.

In 76 games for the Warriors last season, Green averaged 10.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.0 assists. If Golden State is going to survive an even stronger Western Conference than last year’s they’ll need to do it at full health.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Kings won’t be a playoff team in 2017/18 but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be successful, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. With so many new faces on the roster, the club will be happy to develop their young players and see a true culture shift.
The Clippers are finally (mostly) healthy and head coach Doc Rivers is eager to see how they perform together under the spotlight of the regular season, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times writes.
According to president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, the Clippers view Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan as Clippers for life. The recently promoted executive spoke extensively about his role with Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register.

Knicks Notes: Measuring Success, Height, Hardaway Jr.

October 19th, 2017 at 5:58pm CST by Austin Kent

The Knicks may not be a likely bet to contend for a playoff spot without Carmelo Anthony but that doesn’t mean that the season can’t still end up being worthwhile. Marc Berman of The New York Post spoke about the state of the franchise with analyst and former New York guard Greg Anthony.

This year, the broadcaster says, the team will need to gain confidence, establish leadership and grow team chemistry, whether they find themselves in the hunt for a postseason bid or not.

Regardless of the team’s win total, however, the organization’s new front office tandem of Steve Mills and Scott Perry will be under the microscope. After the disappointing reign of Phil Jackson, Berman writes that it will be hard for them to be any worse.

There’s more from the Knicks:

There’s a good chance that Kristaps Porzingis will one day be the face of the Knicks franchise but head coach Jeff Hornacek thinks that his 22-year-old star will need to grow into that role in time, Ian Begley of ESPN writes.
The Knicks are an unusually tall team at a time when some of the NBA’s most successful franchises are going small, Mike Vorkunov of the New York Times writes.
When summer signee Tim Hardaway Jr. was shipped off from the Knicks to the Hawks and then demoted to the team’s G League affiliate, it served as a wake up call, the guard told Al Iannazzone of Newsday. “[Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer] putting me down there just made me realize you got to work hard, man. You can’t come here expecting to play. I thought I was going to come in and play. I realized I had veterans in front of me that I had to outwork and compete each and every day. Once I got better he trusted me in that process and it got me to where I am right now.”

Central Notes: Pacers, Bell, Bulls

October 19th, 2017 at 4:28pm CST by Austin Kent

The Pacers have made a concerted effort to play a faster tempo and managed to do just that thanks to their new-look backcourt spearheaded by Victor Oladipo. As Clifton Brown of the Indianapolis Star writes, Indiana managed to up their pace eventually outrunning their opening day opponent altogether.

While Oladipo led the squad in scoring with 22 points in Indiana’s first game, he wasn’t the only guard to post an impressive stat line. Veteran Darren Collison added 21 and 11 of his own while reserve guard Cory Joseph – plucked from the Raptors this offseason – put in 11 points and 4 assists of his own for the victorious Pacers.

“[Pacers coach] Nate MacMillan’s done an unbelievable job of letting us take the onus as point guards and kind of let us run the show,” Collison said. “He was a point guard himself. He knows what it’s like to let us see the game, instead of micromanaging every single play. If we can play like that, call a guard game, play with one another, we’ll be alright.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

The Bulls have gotten flak for, among other things, selling second-round pick Jordan Bell to the Warriors. Cody Westerlund of 670 The Score tweets that VP of basketball operations John Paxson said that he was “building up equity” with ownership when he sold the No. 38 pick to Golden State for $3.5MM.
After a down year besieged by injuries in 2016/17, Reggie Jackson has recovered and returned to the court for the Pistons. He’s “only going to get better as time goes on” head coach Stan Van Gundy told the media, Brendan Savage of MLive included.
The Bulls are looking to regroup after a fight in practice set the team into chaos before the season even began. Sam Smith of the team’s official website offers an inside account of what happened and what comes next.

2017 Offseason In Review: Oklahoma City Thunder

October 19th, 2017 at 3:29pm CST by Austin Kent

Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2017 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2017/18 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Signings:

Andre Roberson: Three years, $30MM.
Patrick Patterson: Three years, $16.355MM. Third-year player option.
Nick Collison: One year, minimum salary.
Raymond Felton: One year, minimum salary.
Daniel Hamilton: Two-way contract. One year. $50K guaranteed.
P.J. Dozier: Two-way contract. Details not yet known.

Camp invitees:

Bryce Alford: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10. (Waived)
Markel Brown: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10. (Waived)
Rashawn Thomas: One year, minimum salary. Exhibits nine and 10. (Waived)
Isaiah Canaan: One year, minimum salary. Exhibit nine. (Waived)
Yannis Morin: One year, minimum salary. Exact details not known. (Waived)
Chris Wright: One year, minimum salary. Exact details not known. (Waived)

Trades:

Acquired Paul George from the Pacers in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Acquired Carmelo Anthony from the Knicks in exchange for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, and the Bulls’ 2018 second-round pick.

Draft picks:

1-21: Terrance Ferguson — Signed to rookie contract.

Draft-and-stash signings:

Dakari Johnson (2015; No. 48) — Signed to two-year, minimum salary contract.
Daniel Hamilton (2016; No. 56) — Signed to two-way contract.

Extensions:

Russell Westbrook: Five years, 35% maximum salary. Designated veteran extension.

Departing players:

Semaj Christon (waived)
Norris Cole
Taj Gibson
Enes Kanter
Doug McDermott
Victor Oladipo
Domantas Sabonis

Other offseason news:

Hired Rob Hennigan as vice president of insight and foresight.
Lost assistant general manager Michael Winger to the Clippers.

Salary cap situation:

Operating over the cap and over the tax. Carrying approximately $131MM in guaranteed team salary. Only minimum salary exception available.

Check out the Oklahoma City Thunder’s full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.

Story of the summer:

The Thunder approached the 2017 offseason with one goal and one goal only: To lock Russell Westbrook into as long a contract extension as they were eligible to offer. It wasn’t a question of money – the organization was more than willing to offer top dollar – but rather a question of whether Oklahoma City would be the right place for Westbrook to play out the prime of his NBA career.

To convince the reigning MVP to stay on board, the Thunder went out and made it abundantly clear that they were willing to surround him with a formidable supporting cast. General manager Sam Presti pulled the trigger on not just one blockbuster trade this summer, but two. Shortly thereafter, Westbrook put pen to paper on the largest contract extension in NBA history.

The Thunder had no qualms brazenly committing to superstars, and managed to get a pair of them discounted heavily after months of trade rumors. Even if the organization’s ambitious reload doesn’t result in a title before Paul George and Carmelo Anthony hit the open market as free agents, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t a successful summer in OKC.

Key offseason losses:

Victor Oladipo didn’t exactly flourish in the same backcourt as ball-dependent Westbrook last season, but there’s no denying that the 25-year-old combo guard was intriguing in the long term. His 15.9 points per game should be easily replaced in 2017/18.

While Enes Kanter gets panned for his defensive inefficiencies, he remains a potent offensive weapon that could very well fill the stat sheet as a freshly minted member of the Knicks. Alas, considering that the 25-year-old played just 9.0 minutes per game for the Thunder in the playoffs, it’s safe to assume that he wasn’t part of the team’s long-term plans.

The Thunder have been struggling to find a suitable backup point guard to slot in behind Westbrook and weren’t impressed with the performances of Norris Cole and Semaj Christon in that role last season. Both are currently out of the league to start the 2017/18 season.

Finally, Domantas Sabonis, another valued long-term asset, was Indiana-bound alongside Oladipo. Sabonis showed flashes of the skills that made him a lottery pick in 2016, but his inclusion in the George trade was fair and logical.

Key offseason additions:

The Thunder landed two of the biggest available players on the trade market this summer, starting with George in a late June blockbuster. While there’s always the possibility that the All-Star forward will head elsewhere as a free agent next July, he’ll break camp as the team’s most prolific wing since Kevin Durant.

The version of Carmelo Anthony that the Thunder pried away from New York may have lost a step, but the veteran has the opportunity to play a major role on a contender after a disconcerting number of uninspired seasons with the Knicks. Anthony is expected to play the four full-time this season.

Overshadowed by the two aforementioned acquisitions is the solid signing of ex-Raptors big man Patrick Patterson. Patterson will provide a nice offensive spark off the bench and has the ability to make an impact on games from beyond the arc.

Oklahoma City’s latest attempt to find a suitable backup for Westbrook has brought them to veteran Raymond Felton. Felton has toiled in relative obscurity since 2013, but could be a reliable, stabilizing force in the Thunder’s backcourt. He’s also already familiar with one member of the team’s new Big Three, having played with Anthony in New York.

Outlook for 2017/18:

The Thunder went all-out in an attempt to prove to Westbrook that they’re serious about winning ball games. Oklahoma City may have given away a few intriguing long-term assets, but with a player of Westbrook’s magnitude already on board, it would have been silly to be anything but ambitious while looking to retain him. Even if those blockbuster moves don’t lead to a ring, locking Westbrook into his contract extension is a major win for the franchise.

It remains to be seen just how well the experiment will work, as Westbrook, Anthony and George all tend to need the ball in their hands in order to perform. Perhaps we’ll see the most significant transformation out of Anthony, the 33-year-old All-Star in line to prove that he can still play a major role on a winner.

If things go south, George turns out to be merely a rental, and the optimism surrounding the club ultimately fades, the small market club could find itself saddled with Anthony’s substantial contract in 2018/19. However, that’s a risk that Presti and the front office are willing to take. Given that the team now presents one of the league’s greatest threats to the reigning champion Warriors less than half a year after getting bounced in the first-round of the playoffs, I’d agree that it looks like a risk worth taking.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Luke Adams contributed to this post.

Teams With Open Roster Spots

October 19th, 2017 at 1:54pm CST by Luke Adams

For the first time, NBA teams are permitted to carry up to 17 players this season. In addition to carrying up to 15 players to the NBA roster, teams can add two more players on two-way contracts. The rule changes related to roster sizes have allowed teams to maintain a little extra flexibility, and many clubs are taking advantage of that added flexibility to open the season, carrying the full 17 players.

Several teams still have open roster spots though, affording those clubs a different kind of flexibility. A team carrying only 14 NBA players, for instance, has the opportunity to sign a free agent or add a player in a trade at any time without waiving anyone, all the while avoiding paying for a 15th man who almost certainly won’t see much playing time.

With the help of our roster count page and our two-way contract tracker, here’s a breakdown of the teams that have at least one open NBA or two-way spot on their rosters:

Teams carrying just 14 NBA contracts:

Boston Celtics
Charlotte Hornets
Detroit Pistons
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder
Portland Trail Blazers

It makes sense that a few of these teams would avoid carrying a 15th man to open the season. The Rockets, Thunder, and Trail Blazers are all taxpayers, and teams like the Clippers and Hornets are close enough to the tax threshold that avoiding a 15th salary is logical. Among these clubs, the Celtics seem like perhaps the best bet to fill their final roster opening soon, now that the team has likely lost Gordon Hayward for the season.

Teams carrying just one two-way contract:

Atlanta Hawks
Houston Rockets
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks
Portland Trail Blazers

The Trail Blazers don’t currently have a G League affiliate of their own, but the other five teams on this list do, so that’s probably not the reason Portland has waited to fill its second two-way slot. In all likelihood, these six teams will add a second two-way player in time for G League training camps, which open next week. The season tips off on November 3.