Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban shot down a report indicating that big man Dwight Powell will likely retire at the end of this season, tweeting that it’s “not true.”
Powell, 34, no longer plays a significant role in Dallas, but has been with the Mavericks for over a decade and has appeared in 20 of the club’s 25 games so far this season, averaging 10.9 minutes per night.
Powell is on a $4MM expiring contract in 2025/26, so if he does intend to extend his career beyond this season, he’ll need to sign a new deal. In all likelihood, he’ll be a minimum-salary player going forward.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- The Timberwolves assigned rookie center Joan Beringer to the G League for the first time this season on Tuesday, per the team (Twitter link). Beringer has played limited minutes at the NBA level so far this fall, so he’ll get an opportunity to take on a more significant role for the Iowa Wolves when they face the Motor City Cruise this Friday.
- Two-way contracts recently signed by LJ Cryer (Warriors), Malevy Leons (Warriors), and Tyler Smith (Rockets) are all for two years, Hoops Rumors has learned. That means Golden State and Houston will have the option of retaining those players on their two-way deals through the 2026/27 season. However, it’s somewhat rare for a player to play out a full two-year, two-way contract, as most are either promoted or waived before the deal expires.
- After Suns head coach Jordan Ott indicated over the weekend that Devin Booker has a chance to return to action on Wednesday from his groin injury, the team officially upgraded the star guard to questionable for its NBA Cup showdown with Oklahoma City, tweets Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.
- ESPN’s Baxter Holmes shares the latest details on the legal battle between Suns owner Mat Ishbia and a pair of minority shareholders, Scott Seldin and Andy Kohlberg. While attorneys for Seldin and Kohlberg are taking aim at Ishbia’s majority control of the franchise, a spokesperson for Ishbia dismissed the claims in the lawsuit as “ridiculous,” according to Holmes. “Unwilling to take responsibility and invest in the team, these guys are resorting to threats and publicity stunts to get Mat to buy them out just so they make more money,” that spokesperson said.
The two-year Two-Way is mainly to take those guys to Summer League. By that point the team knows whether or not there’s anyone from the new class they’d rather have.
You don’t need to have someone signed to a two-way to take them to SL. Teams take expired two-ways to SL all the time. Teams prefer two year two-ways because they don’t have to fight other teams during restricted free agency if the player breaks out. Most players won’t sign for more than one year, but in-season two year two-ways are more common because those players usually don’t have a great deal of interest from other teams and therefore don’t have other options.
“if the player breaks out”
If the player breaks out they just about always end up on a standard contract.
In practice this rarely happens for the guys on two-year deals because it’s emblematic of how far away they are. If they were close, the agent wouldn’t be giving the team an extra year of control.
Yeah, I said that most two year two-ways have limited options. Although it’s not uncommon for late second round draft picks to sign two year two-ways. Either way, teams essentially have an extra year of control anyway due to restricted free agency and the number of years on a two-way has basically nothing to do with summer league.
Many of them usually get waived after Summer League and before Camp.
Irrelevant. Many players who sign one year two-way contracts in the summer get waived before or during camp.
Lol. Players on 1-year deals are FAs during the summer. The ones who get re-signed (i.e. the team wants to keep them around) usually last, and certainly don’t get cut a few weeks later.
Teams also will keep those slots open and let players battle in camp rather than commit to one that they end up waiving later (i.e. losing rights).
The stats on Two-Ways waivers don’t actually back any of your claims.
1. Over 25 two-way RFAs suited up for their teams without contract offers in the 2025 summer league. Hence, it is not necessary for teams to give two year two-way contracts to players for summer league purposes.
2. There were multiple players signed to two year two-way contracts that didn’t even make it to summer league with their teams (some examples include Daeqwon Plowden, Ron Harper Jr., David Roddy, Seth Lundy, Jared Rhoden, Jaylen Martin, etc.). Hence, teams don’t just give two year two-way contracts with summer league in mind.
3. Multiple players signed two-way contracts this offseason and didn’t even make the opening night roster, including R.J. Luis (traded to Knicks and subsequently waived), Yuki Kawamura, Tristen Newton, etc.
4. It ultimately doesn’t matter if a team signs a player to a two-way and another player to an Exhibit 10. If they end up preferring the E10, then they can simply waive the two-way and convert the E10. Either way, they are waiving at least one player and losing rights. The only minor consideration is whether they have the initial two-way’s G-League rights, but such rights are so easy to obtain that it’s basically an irrelevant point.
Your point that two year two-way contracts are mainly for summer league is simply not true. Two-way RFAs play in the summer league often and it’s not a guarantee that a two-year two-way will even do so. Two-way contracts are essentially disposable and are switched out all the time. Having a second year added on the contract is all about control for the front office, which is why so few players/agents agree to them.
A perfect example is N’Faly Dante. He was a RFA, excelled in SL for the Rockets, and earned a contract offer from Atlanta that Houston was financially unable to match due to salary cap restrictions. Don’t you think Houston would have preferred to keep him as a two-way for another year? Instead, Dante bet on himself. Point is, when you can lock up a player on a non-guaranteed contract for multiple years, you have nothing to lose. What are you going to tell me next, that teams only sign players to contracts with team options so that they can check them out in SL?
Jalen Green looked good when he played this season. I’m really looking forward to seeing him and Booker together