For players who are entering the fourth and final year of their rookie scale contracts, the first day of the new league year (July 1) is the first day they can agree to rookie scale extensions. Those players, who were all 2022 first-round selections, will have until the day before the 2025/26 regular season starts (October 20) to finalize long-term agreements with their current teams.
Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to five years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in 2026/27. If they don’t sign extensions during the offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2026.
As our tracker shows, four players — Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith Jr., Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams — have already signed rookie scale extensions with their respective teams this offseason. A fifth — Blake Wesley — is no longer eligible after reaching a buyout agreement with Washington and subsequently signing a one-year deal with Portland.
Eight other 2022 first-round picks are ineligible rookie scale deals for various reasons.
That leaves 17 players — including Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Dyson Daniels — who remain eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason:
Ochai Agbaji (Raptors)- Malaki Branham (Wizards)
- Christian Braun (Nuggets)
- Dyson Daniels (Hawks)
- Ousmane Dieng (Thunder)
- Jalen Duren (Pistons)
- Tari Eason (Rockets)
- Jaden Ivey (Pistons)
- Nikola Jovic (Heat)
- Walker Kessler (Jazz)
- Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers)
- Keegan Murray (Kings)
- Shaedon Sharpe (Trail Blazers)
- Jeremy Sochan (Spurs)
- Dalen Terry (Bulls)
- Peyton Watson (Nuggets)
- Mark Williams (Suns)
While some of these players almost certainly won’t sign new deals, we should still see several more extensions signed before the October 20 deadline. There has been an uptick in rookie extensions over the past several offseasons as more teams look to lock up their promising young players in advance of free agency. Since 2020, at least 10 players have signed rookie extensions every year, topping out at a record-setting 14 in 2023.