The NBA and NBPA intend to further loosen the restrictions facing players on two-way contracts for the rest of the 2020/21 season, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Currently, players on two-way contracts are limited to appearing in 50 regular season games and aren’t eligible for the postseason. The plan is to eliminate both of those restrictions, pending Board of Governors approval, according to Charania.
[RELATED: 2020/21 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker]
The rule change would allow standout two-way players such as Wizards guard Garrison Mathews, Raptors forward Yuta Watanabe, and Warriors wing Juan Toscano-Anderson to play in all their teams’ remaining regular season games and to be active for the playoffs as well.
Players on two-way deals who exceed 50 games played would earn a salary bump, according to Charania. Currently, those players are making $449,155, half of the rookie minimum. If a two-way player appears in more than 50 games, his salary would be the rookie or veteran’s minimum that corresponds with his years of NBA service, as seen here.
The rule change will give teams some added roster flexibility during a season in which they’ve often found themselves missing a player or two due to the NBA’s health and safety (COVID-19) protocols. Sources tell Charania (Twitter link) that the lifting of those two-way restrictions received “massive support” among NBA executives today on a conference call.
A good number of players have reevaluated their position on participating in the Slam Dunk Competition when they learned that the NBA would be supplying either Oreo’s or Chocolate Chip Cookies !!
Loosening the restrictions is a good idea, but I gather they’re not going a step further and allowing a third two-way player for each team. It was discussed a while back, but since the G-League season is wrapping up soon, I gather that’s not likely. The one way it could work, though, was if each team could designate one player already in the bubble that isn’t on a 2-way contract now as a 2-way player. It would expand the rosters by one player without requiring teams to sign G-League players to 10-day contracts.