Twelve months ago, few NBA fans understood what two-way contracts were. After a year in place, it’s clear that teams have vastly different philosophies on how to utilize this new class of player.
Instituted under the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement, two-way contracts give the best G League prospects a chance to get some NBA exposure, while giving teams an easily accessible supply of reinforcements in case of injuries. Each team has a pair of two-way slots to use, and players with two-way contracts are limited to 45 days of NBA service, which counts practices and traveling as well as games.
A player who hits the 45-day limit cannot spend any more time with his NBA team until the G League season ends, unless his contract is converted to a standard NBA deal. Players with two-way contracts are also ineligible for the postseason, which is why the Warriors had to open a roster spot for Quinn Cook in April, which cost them Omri Casspi.
Cook was the most successful two-way player last season, appearing in 33 games, starting 18, and posting a 9.5/2.5/2.7 line. He was a valuable reserve for the Warriors all the way through their run to a championship.
While NBA service time is limited in two-way deals, so is compensation. The minimum salary ranges from $838,464 for a player with no experience to $1,621,415 for a player with four years of service, which is the maximum allowable for a two-way contract. Rules allow two-way players to collect up to $275K, but most make far less.
That salary structure is among the reasons the contracts aren’t universally popular. Even though they create 60 more NBA jobs, an unidentified agent recently told Justin Jett of DefPen that the league is taking advantage of the new system.
“Teams are explicitly violating two-way compensation rules,” the agent claimed. “There’s no good way to ‘police’ these deals. Agents get paid basically nothing on these deals and teams flat out lie to try to steal money from, and exploit, two-way contract players.”
We want to get your opinion. Have two-way contracts been good for the NBA and the players, or do changes need to be made? Please leave your responses in the space below.
I think they just need to get rid of the two-way contracts and go straight to a complete minor league system like baseball. It would require every team to have a G League franchise, but we are almost there anyway. All 15 players on the G League roster will be considered property of the NBA franchise and the NBA franchise should have the ability to promote and demote throughout the season. They should also bring back an injured list that would enable teams to not have to use active roster spots on injured players, but that is another subject. They could even have something like the MLB Rule 5 draft to stop team from hoarding talent in the G League as well. There are theoretically lots of better ways to do it than the current way.
They probably will when all the teams have an affiliate. They also can’t do much till the next CBA comes up
I 100% agree with this and was about to post the same thing. 2 way contracts were a step in the right direction, but right now G league is just about filling teams with bodies. It would be cool to be able to follow a minor league team filled with prospects and foreign players who could eventually be a mainstay on the big boy club. Ideally, I think you could go 12 NBA active roster spots with 8 G league spots/DL slots for a 20 man roster (equivalent to baseball’s 40 man roster) where you could also have the rest of your G league players sign 1 yr minor league contracts that could have their contract purchased by the parent club at any point in the season like AAA players.
I must admit agree with all the comments & the article, didn’t know what to expect from this contracts, but I am not a big fan. I do think those players get exploited by the teams, which is absolutely disgusting, I mean teams make an absolute fortune every single year, all the teams make huge profits, & then they go stealing money to guys who hardly earn a 6 figure salary, if that much, man a system were rich owners are allowed to do that can never be good.
Yes, realistically, the contract status would not have been invented were it not exploitive. But I suspect the players involved like saying they are attached to a specific team.