5:44 pm: The Hawks have officially promoted Wallace from a two-way contract to a standard deal and converted Houstan from an Exhibit 10 deal to a two-way contract, according to the transaction log at NBA.com.
3:17 pm: Point guard Keaton Wallace and forward Caleb Houstan have both made the Hawks‘ regular season roster, but their contract situations will change before opening night.
Wallace is having his two-way contract converted into a one-year standard deal, his agents at Excel Sports Management tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Houstan, meanwhile, will have his Exhibit 10 contract turned into a two-way deal, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).
Players on two-way contracts can’t be active for more than 50 games and aren’t postseason-eligible, whereas no such restrictions exist for standard roster players, so the decision suggests that Atlanta is prioritizing Wallace’s availability from game to game over Houstan’s, at least to open the season.
Wallace, who appeared in 31 games with the Hawks on a two-way contract last season, made his case for a promotion by averaging 5.5 points, 5.0 assists, and 1.5 steals in 16.6 minutes per game across four preseason outings. He did struggle with his shot this month, knocking down just 30.8% of his attempts from the floor, including 8.3% of his three-pointers.
The Hawks don’t really have a traditional point guard backing up star Trae Young, with Dyson Daniels and Luke Kennard among the players excepted to take on ball-handling responsibilities, so there could be a path for Wallace to earn some minutes for the club.
As for Houstan, the former Magic sharpshooter has three years of NBA service under his belt, so this will be his final season of two-way eligibility. He joins Eli Ndiaye and Jacob Toppin as Atlanta’s two-way players.