Injury Notes: Kawhi, Vassell, Sharpe, Huerter, Grizzlies, Livers
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard won’t be making his season debut anytime soon, ESPN’s Shams Charania said during Wednesday’s episode of NBA Today (Twitter video link). According to Charania, Leonard’s absence will be measured in weeks rather than days.
“I’m told Kawhi Leonard will be missing weeks,” Charania said. “This is not an injury that’s going to be measured by a week (or) two weeks, potentially. Not days, obviously. This will be an extended period of time that the Clippers are starting this season without him.”
Leonard battled inflammation in his right knee at the end of the 2023/24 season that flared up again during the summer. While it’s obviously problematic that he’s not ready for the start of the season, Charania suggests there’s optimism that once the two-time Finals MVP gets back on the court, he won’t be in and out of the lineup.
“I’m told they feel they have a plan and a protocol in place that will allow him, when he is ready to return, to actually sustain his play on the court,” Charania said.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Spurs guard Devin Vassell still hasn’t been cleared to take contact, but the team remains hopeful that he’ll be ready to return from foot surgery sometime in early November, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Vassell is scheduled to be reevaluated on Nov. 1.
- Shaedon Sharpe is making good progress in his return from a labral tear in his left shoulder, according to Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link), who says the Trail Blazers guard has been cleared for non-contact basketball activities and is shooting and going through ball-handling drills in practice. A return in early- to mid-November return still seems realistic, Highkin adds.
- Kings wing Kevin Huerter, who missed the preseason and hasn’t played since March 18 due to shoulder surgery, will be available to suit up on Thursday vs. Minnesota, tweets Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento. Head coach Mike Brown previously told reporters that Huerter would “probably start” if he’s ready to go for Thursday’s regular season opener.
- The NBA’s most injury-plagued team last season, the Grizzlies will open the 2024/25 campaign with five players sidelined. The team has officially confirmed (via Twitter) that GG Jackson II (foot), Jaren Jackson Jr. (hamstring), Luke Kennard (foot), Cam Spencer (ankle), and Vince Williams (leg) are all unavailable for Wednesday’s regular season opener in Utah.
- Free agent forward Isaiah Livers announced on Instagram that he underwent a hip resurfacing surgical procedure last Friday after playing through a hip injury for the past two seasons (hat tip to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press). It’s unclear how long the recovery process will take, but it seems safe to assume Livers won’t be an option for an NBA team until at least sometime in 2025.
Sixers Facing NBA Investigation Over Embiid’s Early-Season Absence
The NBA is expected to launch an investigation into Joel Embiid‘s absence from the Sixers‘ lineup this week to determine whether the team is violating the league’s player participation policy, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
The player participation policy requires stars (defined as players who have made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the past three seasons) to suit up for nationally televised games. If they’re held out of action without an injury or without the league granting an exception, the team is subject to a fine.
The Sixers have already stated that Embiid will miss the first three games of the season, including Wednesday’s home opener vs. Milwaukee, which is being nationally broadcast on ESPN.
Embiid dealt with a left knee injury last season and the Sixers have referred to his absence this fall (he also sat out the preseason) as “left knee injury management.” However, Embiid played in the postseason and in the Olympics and head coach Nick Nurse told reporters on Tuesday that the star center hasn’t suffered any setbacks, so the league clearly has questions about whether there’s legitimate cause for him to be held out for the start of the season.
Leading up to the season, the Sixers have repeatedly and publicly made it clear that they’ll handle Embiid extremely cautiously this season in the hopes of having him healthy for the playoffs. According to Charania, the club’s plan is expected to include “periodic time off during the regular season and routine evaluations from doctors and the 76ers medical staff.”
There’s enough wiggle room within the player participation policy (which also discourages teams from resting more than one star in the same game, frequently resting a star during road games, or resting a star during an in-season tournament game) for the Sixers to adhere to its rules and still get Embiid plenty of off-days during the season. But if they want to manage the former MVP’s participation on their own terms rather than on the NBA’s terms, the 76ers may have to prepare to pay some fines.
While Paul George has also been ruled out for Philadelphia’s regular season opener on Wednesday, he recently sustained a knee injury that he’s still recovering from, so there’s no potential violation of the participation policy there.
Thunder Pick Up 2025/26 Options On Four Players
The Thunder have exercised their 2025/26 rookie scale team options on four second- and third-year players, the team announced today in a press release.
All four players were already on guaranteed contracts for 2024/25 and have now had their salaries locked in for the following season too. Those players – and their ’25/26 salaries – are as follows:
- Chet Holmgren, C (fourth year, $13,731,368)
- Ousmane Dieng, F (fourth year, $6,670,882)
- Jalen Williams, F (fourth year, $6,580,997)
- Cason Wallace, G (third year, $5,820,240)
Holmgren and Williams were full-time starters in the frontcourt last season for a Thunder team that won 57 games, claimed the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and won a playoff series.
The runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting, Holmgren played all 82 regular season games and averaged 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.3 blocks in just 29.4 minutes per contest. The 22-year-old also posted a strong shooting line of .530/.370/.793.
Williams, 23, took a significant step forward across the board after finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023. The former No. 12 overall pick registered averages of 19.1 PPG, 4.5 APG, and 4.0 RPG on .540/.427/.814 shooting in 71 games (31.3 MPG) in his second NBA season.
Wallace, 20, immediately emerged as a rotation player for Oklahoma City as a rookie, earning regular minutes with his strong perimeter defense. Like Holmgren, he appeared in all 82 games during the regular season, averaging 6.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.5 APG with a .491/.419/.784 shooting line in 20.6 MPG.
Dieng, 21, is the only one of these four players whose option decision wasn’t a mortal lock. The 6’10” forward, who was drafted 11th overall in 2022, has yet to emerge as a regular contributor in OKC, having appeared in just 33 games off the bench last season. However, the Thunder remain encouraged by Dieng’s play in the G League, where he averaged 17.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 5.4 APG in 33 Showcase Cup and regular season outings in 2023/24.
Holmgren, Dieng, and Williams will now be eligible for rookie scale extensions in the 2025 offseason, and it’s safe to assume the Thunder will make an effort to lock up at least Holmgren and Williams at that time. The team’s decision on Wallace’s fourth-year option for 2026/27 will be due next fall.
Next Thursday (October 31) is the deadline for teams to exercise rookie scale options for 2025/26. We’re tracking those decisions right here.
Atlantic Notes: Bridges, Towns, Tatum, Thomas, Shead
Neither of the Knicks‘ two major offseason acquisitions got off to the sort of start they were hoping for this season on Tuesday night in Boston.
While Mikal Bridges salvaged his night to some extent by making 7-of-8 shots for 16 points in the second half, he went scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting in the first two quarters, didn’t grab a single rebound in his 35 minutes on the court, and was a team-worst minus-33 in his Knicks debut, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Bridges also admitted he wasn’t at his best defensively against Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who poured in 37 points.
“I definitely could have done better. I think my performance at the defensive end wasn’t that (good) for me personally, as well as our team,” Bridges said. “Me personally, I think I just could have been better, especially (against) a guy getting it and having that rhythm from the three, just getting up a little bit more (on Tatum).”
Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns had a relatively quiet night in his first game as a Knick, scoring 12 points and recording seven rebounds. The Celtics also frequently targeted him in screening actions, as Botte writes in a separate New York Post story. Like Bridges, Towns didn’t express concern about New York’s offense, but said the defense needs to be better.
“I just think that we just didn’t do enough defensively to give ourselves a chance to win the game,” the four-time All-Star said. “We’ve just gotta do a better job of executing on that end. Our defensive identity is what’s gonna give us a chance to do something great. Offensively, I think we showed tonight we can score, we’ve just gotta play defense.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Ahead of Tuesday’s regular season opener, Tatum spoke to Marc J. Spears of Andscape about what it means to have won his first title and why he believes the Celtics are well positioned to win another championship.
- None of the three Nets players eligible for rookie scale extensions signed a new contract before Monday’s deadline, but that was expected, since Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams have played limited roles in their first three NBA seasons and extending Cam Thomas would’ve eaten into Brooklyn’s projected 2025 cap room. As Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays, Thomas said on Tuesday he’s not bothered by not having completed a deal, while head coach Jordi Fernandez told reporters he didn’t feel the need to discuss the guard’s contract situation with him. “Yeah, conversations have been great. I think he’s in a good place, and I didn’t see anything that I should go and talk to him about it, the way he feels,” Fernandez said. “I think he’s been great. He’s done his job, and we have a clear path and direction for what we’re trying to do.”
- In an in-depth feature for Sportsnet.ca, Blake Murphy takes a closer look at what the Raptors are getting in Jamal Shead, a “high-IQ, high-motor” rookie guard who may have been overlooked this offseason as the third of four players selected by Toronto in the 2024 draft. “Jamal actually should have gone in the first round,” Kelvin Sampson, Shead’s former coach at Houston, said of the No. 45 pick. “There’s such an undervaluing of the things that he does well. … If you’re a coach, you want Jamal. All he does is win.”
Wizards Notes: Arena, Kispert, Carrington, Injury Report
Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., has put forth a proposal for the city to buy Capital One Arena from Monumental Sports, the Wizards‘ parent company, according to Michael Brice-Saddler and Sam Fortier of The Washington Post.
The plan proposes the city buy the arena for $87.5MM, with that money coming out of a $515MM fund that city council approved earlier this year for renovations and expansions to the building. The idea would be to lease the arena back to the Wizards, with that lease extending through at least 2050.
D.C. already owns the land under Capital One Arena, Brice-Saddler and Fortier write, and if Monumental maintains control of the building, Ted Leonsis‘ company would be required to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes back to city on the money it receives for arena renovations, which are projected to cost $800MM in total (with at least $285MM being contributed by Monumental). That wouldn’t be the case if the arena is sold to the city.
“This is the deal that was always contemplated when Mayor Bowser and the D.C. Council approved a $515 million improvement in Capital One Arena,” deputy mayor for planning and economic development Nina Albert said in a statement. “This is the best structure to effectuate that; it is what enables an efficient use of public money to be fully reinvested in this project.”
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- Wizards sharpshooter Corey Kispert said on Tuesday that he felt a “huge sense of relief” after finalizing a four-year, $54MM contract extension with the team ahead of Monday’s deadline, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link). “I’m excited to get the deal done and secure the future for my family and play for this organization and ultimately now just really focus on the season,” Kispert said. “I tried to think that I was focused here anyways, but the amount of relief that I felt afterwards made me realize that subconsciously it was weighing on me. So I’m happy that’s out of the way now and I can play.”
- Four rival talent evaluators who spoke to The Athletic were “almost universally optimistic” about rookie guard Carlton Carrington‘s long-term outlook, according to Robbins. One of those four scouts expressed confidence that Carrington can become one of the better players from this year’s draft, while another went even further. “I think he’s the best young prospect on the Wizards,” the second scout said. “I think he has a chance to be the best point guard in this previous draft class, and if he’s a 10-year NBA starter, it’s not going to shock me.”
- With the exception of Malcolm Brogdon (thumb) and Saddiq Bey (ACL), the Wizards’ entire roster is expected to be healthy for the team’s regular season opener on Thursday vs. Boston, head coach Brian Keefe said this week (Twitter link via Robbins). That means Alex Sarr (calf) and Bilal Coulibaly (finger) should be good to go after missing Washington’s last two preseason games.
Extension Notes: Giddey, Green, Gobert, Gordon
Noting that Bulls guard Josh Giddey was among the top rookie scale extension candidates who didn’t sign a new contract before Monday’s deadline, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said in the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link) that the two sides didn’t seem to gain any real traction in their negotiations ahead of the regular season.
“From what I understand, there were never really any meaningful negotiations there, which was a surprise to me,” Windhorst said. “I thought the Bulls were going to be under some amount of pressure to get him done because they had traded Alex Caruso for him.”
Giddey will now be on track for restricted free agency in 2025, with the Bulls getting the opportunity to evaluate him for a year before deciding how significant an investment they want to make in their new point guard.
Meanwhile, Windhorst and his podcast guest Bobby Marks singled out the unusual extension that Jalen Green signed with the Rockets – which gave him a third-year player option and a 10% trade kicker – and suggested that the unique terms of the deal signal that Green could become a trade candidate before his contract expires.
“This is a contract that a lot of people in the league think was signed for the option to be traded,” Windhorst said, adding that the 10% trade kicker was the biggest one handed out in any of this week’s extensions. “I’m not saying the Rockets are definitely going to trade him. I’m just saying this contract was designed to allow him to be traded.”
Here are a few more notes on the contract extensions that were completed this week:
- Discussing his new three-year, $110MM agreement with the Timberwolves, Rudy Gobert said he didn’t want to be too “greedy” in negotiations and that he wanted the team to maintain some spending flexibility after locking him up, according to Chris Hine of The Minneapolis Star Tribune. As part of the deal, Gobert declined a $46.7MM player option for 2025/26 and will replace it with a cap hit that comes in $10MM+ below that. “It’s about finding balance,” Gobert said. “Every year, every time I sign a contract I always try to leave a little bit for the team, be able to realize that I’m grateful being able to earn what I’m earning coming from where I come from.”
- Aaron Gordon made a similar concession in his extension with the Nuggets, picking up a $22.84MM player option for 2025/26 as part of the deal and allowing the team to put off his 40% raise until ’26/27. Gordon, who said he was “ecstatic” to finalize a long-term deal with Denver, referred to the extension as a “win-win” for him and the team, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “Playing alongside Joker (Nikola Jokic), Jamal (Murray), MPJ (Michael Porter Jr.), and being coached under Mike Malone, what more can you ask for?” Gordon said. “From the moment that I got here, Mike Malone has put me in a position to succeed and flourish. He’s put me in the right place, and he’s encouraged me to just be myself, and he’s coached me and allowed me to be myself. So to be coached under him is a great thing. And then just playing alongside these great players and continuing to build a friendship, a bond, a brotherhood, and a team, I’m really excited for it.”
- John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a deep dive into the extensions signed this week and considers which teams made out the best and which clubs were smart to hold the line. Hollinger called the Rockets‘ five-year, $185MM deal with Alperen Sengun a “home run” for Houston and lauded the Pelicans for locking up Trey Murphy on a four-year, $112MM extension.
Community Shootaround: 2024/25 NBA Predictions
The 2024/25 NBA season tipped off on Tuesday night, with the defending-champion Celtics opening the season in impressive fashion by knocking down a record-tying 29 three-pointers en route to a blowout win over the new-look Knicks.
While teams like the Knicks and the Sixers, who are incorporating new stars, will need some time to jell and could become greater threats to Boston later in the season, the Celtics’ performance on Tuesday was a convincing reminder of why they’re considered a good bet to become the first NBA champion to go back-to-back since Golden State in 2017 and 2018. The Bucks, Cavaliers, Pacers, Magic, and Heat are among the other clubs hoping to give the C’s a run for their money in 2024/25.
Over in the Western Conference, the Thunder are widely considered the favorites to finish the season with the best record after claiming the No. 1 seed in 2023/24 and then upgrading the roster by adding Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso over the summer. But the growth of young teams isn’t always linear and Oklahoma City will face plenty of competition in a stacked Western Conference.
The last two teams to win the West – the Nuggets and Mavericks – should be among the conference’s top teams again in ’24/25. The Timberwolves made the Western Conference Finals in the spring and appear poised to contend again despite an opening-night loss. The Lakers, Suns, and Warriors will be leaning heavily on older stars, but could certainly make some noise if things break right. The Grizzlies won 50-plus games for two consecutive years before being hit hard by injuries last season; they’re hoping to bounce back. And longer-shot contenders like the Pelicans, Kings, and Rockets are all determined to take a step forward this season too.
In terms of award races, will voter fatigue work against three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert? If so, it could open the door for a first-time winner for each award, with Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander among the top MVP candidates and Victor Wembanyama considered the frontrunner for DPOY.
The Rookie of the Year field is an interesting one, with this year’s No. 1 pick (Zaccharie Risacher) not expected to make the same sort of immediate impact that Wembanyama did last season. Risacher is still a Rookie of the Year contender, but the favorite may be Zach Edey, given the significant role he’s expected to play for a Grizzlies team without a ton of depth at center.
Oddsmakers have pegged Wembanyama as the frontrunner for Most Improved Player in addition to making him the DPOY favorite, but there’s no shortage of breakout candidates around the league — Jalen Williams, Jalen Johnson, Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, Franz Wagner, and Cade Cunningham are among the Most Improved Player picks that bettors have favored this fall.
Last year’s top two finishers in Sixth Man of the Year voting – Naz Reid and Malik Monk – are primed to contend for that award again, though Reid isn’t the Timberwolves’ only potential candidate, as Donte DiVincenzo could be in the mix too. Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook and Pelicans wing Trey Murphy are a couple more possibilities I have my eye on, while Pacers swingman Bennedict Mathurin and Knicks guard Miles McBride are among those ranked highly by oddsmakers.
We want to know what you think. Are you predicting a Celtics repeat or do you expect another team to win the 2025 title? What team are you taking to come out of the West? Who are your picks for this year’s major awards? Who will be the biggest star to change teams at the trade deadline?
Do you have any other bold predictions to share for the upcoming season? Head to the comment section below to weigh in!
Wolves Notes: Lore, A-Rod, Randle, Finch, Conley, Edwards
With an arbitration hearing around the corner, prospective Timberwolves owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have put $942MM into an escrow account, according to reports from Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico and Shams Charania of ESPN.
As Novy-Williams explains, Lore’s and Rodriguez’s goal is to make it clear that there are no liquidity issues and that they have cash on hand to complete their purchase of the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx if an arbitration panel rules in their favor. The group has also set aside about $300MM in working capital in the event that they’re given the go-ahead to assume control of the team, per Sportico.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst first reported last month on Lore’s and Rodriguez’s plan to put more than $900MM in escrow in advance of November’s arbitration hearing. The $942MM in escrow would be enough to fully buy out longtime Glen Taylor based on the terms of their agreement and would give the new owners 100% control of the two teams.
Lore and Rodriguez reached an agreement back in 2021 to buy the Timberwolves from Taylor for a valuation of $1.5 billion. The plan was for Lore and A-Rod to buy in gradually over three years, first purchasing a 20% stake in the team, then increasing that stake to 40% before assuming majority control earlier this year by bumping their stake to 80%. Taylor would have retained 20% of the franchise in that scenario.
However, Taylor announced in March that he’d be retaining his majority share of the Wolves due to the fact that the prospective owners missed their deadline for that third payment deadline (which would have taken them from 40% to 80%). Lore and Rodriguez disputed that claim, stating that they had submitted the necessary financial documentation and were awaiting league approval.
The arbitration hearing is set to begin on November 4. While Lore and Rodriguez are reportedly confident about their chances to prevail, it will likely take at least a few weeks for the panel to reach a decision.
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- The bond between Julius Randle and Wolves head coach Chris Finch dating back to their time together with the Pelicans was one reason why Minnesota felt comfortable with the idea of acquiring Randle when they traded away Karl-Anthony Towns. Chris Hine of The Minneapolis Star Tribune and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic take a closer look at that bond, sharing some interesting tidbits of information and considering how the Randle/Finch dynamic will help determine the Wolves’ ceiling in 2024/25. As Krawczynski notes, Randle advocated for Finch back in 2020 when the Knicks were seeking a new head coach. “He just opened up my game and I became a really versatile player,” Randle said of his time with Finch in New Orleans, per Hine. “I always say, playing there and even still to this point, that was the easiest my game ever felt playing under Finch.”
- At age 37, Mike Conley doesn’t feel as if his game is declining at all, but the Wolves will still take some extra precautions with the veteran point guard this season, Hine writes for The Star Tribune. The goal will be to reduce Conley’s playing time a little after he averaged about 29 minutes per game last season. “We feel like we could keep his minutes in the mid-20s,” Finch said. “So kind of save some miles there.”
- Speaking to Jamal Collier as part of an ESPN feature story, rising Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards expressed a desire to spend his entire NBA career in Minnesota. “If I can, I’m trying to be here for my whole career,” Edwards said. “I ain’t trying to go nowhere.”
- In case you missed it, the Wolves and Rudy Gobert agreed to terms on a contract extension that will keep the four-time Defensive Player of the Year under contract through at least 2027.
Contract Details: Gordon, Moody, Suggs, Green, Sengun, Murphy, More
The three-year veteran extension that Aaron Gordon signed with the Nuggets is worth $103,608,840 in total base salary, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. As expected, Gordon is getting the maximum 40% raise on his 2025/26 salary ($22,841,455), with 8% annual raises after that.
Gordon’s is also getting the maximum 40% bump (and 8% subsequent increases) on his $1.2MM in incentives for the ’25/26 season, so they’ll increase to $1.68MM in the first year of the extension and will be worth $5,443,200 in total across the three years of the deal. That means that if the Nuggets forward earns all his bonuses, he could make up to $109,052,040 over those three seasons.
The trade kicker on Gordon’s extension is for just 3%, which represents the lowest percentage of any active trade kicker around the NBA.
Here are more details on some of the contracts recently signed by players across the league:
- Moses Moody‘s three-year extension with the Warriors actually has a total base value of $37.5MM, rather than the $39MM initially reported. The deal includes $1.5MM in incentives that could push the total value up to $39MM.
- Jalen Suggs‘ five-year, $150MM extension with the Magic starts at $35MM in 2025/26 and has a descending structure. By the fifth year, in 2029/30, Suggs’ cap hit will be just $26.7MM.
- The exact value of Jalen Green‘s three-year extension with the Rockets is $105,333,333. It starts at $33,333,333, with matching $36MM cap hits in years two and three (the third year is a player option).
- Alperen Sengun‘s five-year, $185MM extension with the Rockets has an ascending structure, though it doesn’t increase by the maximum allowable 8% per year. It begins at $33,944,954 in 2025/26 and eventually gets as high as $39,036,697 in years four and five. The fifth year is a player option.
- Trey Murphy‘s four-year, $112MM extension with the Pelicans begins at $25MM and increases by $2MM annually, getting up to $31MM by year four.
- The new standard contract Alex Reese signed with the Thunder is a straightforward one-year, minimum-salary deal that is fully non-guaranteed. I’d be a little surprised if Reese lasts the whole season on that contract, but if he does, he’d be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2025.
- Alondes Williams‘ two-way contract with the Pistons is for two years. While it’s pretty rare for a player to play out a full two-year, two-way contract, Detroit could technically keep Williams on his current deal all the way through the end of the 2025/26 season.
Southeast Notes: Williams, Lee, Johnson, McClung
The Hornets won’t have their starting center available for the season opener. Mark Williams has been ruled out while he continues to rehab a left foot injury, the team’s PR department tweets. Williams has returned to on-court activity, so he should be back in action soon.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Hornets first-year coach Charles Lee says he’s ready to get the season started, according to Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “I feel the same way — cool and calm — and I can feel that way because I feel like we’re prepared,” said Lee, whose team opens its season at Houston on Wednesday. “I think that we talked through a lot of situations offensively, defensively. We put in a good amount of information and I think it’s going to help us be competitive in the early part of the year. As the season continues to evolve, we’ll continue to evolve and will continue to put more things in on defense and on offense. But I feel great and a lot of it is because I have a really good team and a team that’s been open-minded the whole preseason. And they’ve been consistent with their work ethic and their work habits.”
- The Hawks gave Jalen Johnson a giant commitment, signing him to a five-year, $150MM rookie scale extension. General manager Landry Fields was comfortable signing Johnson to a long-term deal because of his work ethic and attitude. “He’s competitive, he works his tail off and he’s willing to do what needs to be done in order to get better. For a lot of guys, that’s not always the case. But he embodies all of that,” Fields said, per The Athletic’s Jared Weiss and John Hollinger. “When we get those types of players, we want to invest in them. So we’re happy and excited to invest in him for our future because we see a high ceiling for him.” Johnson had a breakout last season after two nondescript seasons and is thrilled to have long-term security, according to Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I mean, Atlanta is where I want to be,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing, no doubt about that. I feel like we’re building something really special here, and I want to be a part of it. So it meant a lot for, you know, them to want to get something done with me as well.”
- After toiling in the G League last season, Mac McClung is relieved to receive a two-way contract with the Magic, he told Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. “It was a special moment,” he said. “I’ve been working hard to get something like this, so it was just very special and a relief, for sure.” McClung entered camp on an Exhibit 10 deal.