Seven NBA Two-Way Contract Slots Currently Open
While most of the NBA’s 30 teams filled all three of their two-way contract slots before training camps tipped off, there are still seven teams carrying just a pair of players on two-way deals, leaving one two-way slot open on their respective rosters, as our tracker shows.
Those teams are as follows:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Dallas Mavericks
- Miami Heat
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Orlando Magic
- Portland Trail Blazers
The majority of the players around the league who are in camp with teams on Exhibit 10 deals will ultimately end up with those clubs’ G League affiliates, but there’s an opportunity for the Exhibit 10 signees on those seven teams listed above to earn an 18-man roster spot entering the regular season.
Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals before the season begins, so several of those clubs are in the process of essentially holding an open competition for that last two-way slot. Besides the Nets (Fanbo Zeng) and Mavericks (Moussa Cisse; Matthew Cleveland), the rest of those teams have at least four players in camp on Exhibit 10 deals.
Not every player who is on an Exhibit 10 contract can have it converted to a two-way deal in the next couple weeks. For instance, while the Cavaliers have Killian Hayes, Chaney Johnson, Miller Kopp, Norchad Omier, and Tristan Enaruna in camp on Exhibit 10 deals, only the latter four are candidates for two-way conversions — Hayes already has five years of NBA service and is ineligible to have his contract converted. A player is only eligible to receive a two-way contract if this would be his first, second, third, or fourth NBA season.
[RELATED: 2025/26 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team]
Although many of these seven teams will likely reward one of their standout camp invitees with a promotion to a two-way contracts, that’s not necessarily how all of them will fill their remaining opening. When teams make roster cuts later in the preseason, some intriguing two-way targets will shake loose on waivers and in free agency, so these clubs could turn to the open market to address their third two-way slot.
Even teams that already have their three two-way slots filled could end up making changes between now and opening night, which would result in some current two-way players being waived, creating more potential targets for the teams with open slots.
A player on a two-way contract is eligible to be active for up to 50 NBA regular season games and can earn up to $636,435 (half the rookie minimum) if he remains under contract through at least January 7. Teams can continue swapping players on and off on two-way contracts until March 4. You can learn more about two-way deals in our glossary entry.
Southwest Notes: Zion, Bey, Alvarado, DSJ, Spurs
Zion Williamson was limited to just 30 games last season for health reasons, while Trey Murphy‘s year came to an early end due to shoulder surgery. So it was a very encouraging sign for the Pelicans that Williamson (15 points) and Murphy (18 points) were their leading scorers in their preseason opener. New Orleans became the first NBA team to play a game in Australia, winning an exhibition contest over Melbourne United on Friday.
“It was electric,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com. “The fans were in tune. They were engaged. It was a really great platform to come here and play high-level competition.”
Green lauded Williamson for his defensive activity after he picked up a pair of steals on Friday. That effort on the defensive end was on display again on Sunday as the Pelicans won their matchup against the South East Melbourne Phoenix. Williamson scored just eight points, but racked up nine rebounds (eight defensive), three steals, and two blocks in 15 minutes of action en route to a 127-92 win.
As good as Williamson was, it was new Pelican Saddiq Bey who stole the show in Sunday’s victory. Bey, who hasn’t played a regular season game since March 2024 due to an ACL tear, had 21 points in 21 minutes, knocking down four three-pointers and registering a game-high +27 plus-minus mark.
“I am just grateful to be out here,” Bey said in a post-game interview, according to Walker. “The opportunity to play in Australia is is a blessing.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado departed Sunday’s game in the third quarter due to an apparent right leg injury, Walker notes. Green said after the game that Alvarado will be reevaluated when the team returns home to New Orleans.
- Within an extensive breakdown of takeaways from the Mavericks‘ training camp, Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal writes that head coach Jason Kidd praised Dennis Smith Jr. as a camp standout, lauding his “energy.” Smith is on a non-guaranteed contract and has an uphill battle to earn a regular season roster spot, but it sounds like he’s doing all he can to make his case.
- After spending most of last season in the role of “acting” Spurs head coach, Mitch Johnson has the permanent title heading into 2025/26. Running a training camp for the first time, he has made an effort to implement his own style while carrying over many of the lessons he learned from longtime San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, as Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News details (subscription required). “(Last season) we were all just trying to maintain what was already going on, the things we put in during training camp, the principles we had,” veteran forward Harrison Barnes said. “Coming into this year, there’s just building blocks that will be different that (Johnson) can say, ‘OK look, I have full ownership of the things that are going on.'”
Fischer’s Latest: Sharpe, Daniels, Eason, Dadiet, Knicks
In his latest subscriber-only article for The Stein Line, Jake Fischer expresses some doubt that there will be much more action on the rookie scale extension front before the regular season begins. As Fischer writes, just five players – Paolo Banchero, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith Jr., and Nikola Jovic – have signed rookie scale extensions thus far, with 16 players still eligible.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that at this time last year, only four rookie scale extensions had been signed — seven more were completed on deadline day, October 21, and I’d be surprised if we don’t get at least a little flurry of action at this year’s deadline, which will land on Oct. 20.
Still, as Fischer observes, teams who took their fourth-year players to restricted free agency this past summer instead of getting extensions done early had significant leverage in those negotiations. And while more teams are projected to have cap room next summer, which could offer RFAs more pathways to getting paid, some of that projected cap room figures to dry up over the course of the season due to extensions and trades.
One prime candidate for a rookie scale extension this month is Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe. Fischer says he has heard the Blazers have discussed a potential four-year, $90MM deal for the 22-year-old, while team strategists he has spoken to around the league believe that Sharpe could ultimately match or exceed the four-year, $100MM contract Josh Giddey recently signed with Chicago.
Sharpe played well during the second half last season, averaging 20.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game in his final 29 outings. According to Fischer, the Blazers believe they’ll be well positioned to compete for a postseason spot in 2025/26 if Sharpe carries over and builds on that momentum.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- There’s “some distance” between Dyson Daniels and the Hawks in the early stages of their rookie scale extension negotiations, Fischer writes. Daniels is the NBA’s reigning Most Improved Player and placed second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, so it’s safe to assume he’ll be seeking a significant payday on his second NBA contract.
- While it’s not a necessity, the Rockets would prefer to get an extension done with Tari Eason before finalizing a new deal with Kevin Durant, since that would allow them to know exactly what their cap situation will look like before they make a substantial commitment to the 15-time All-Star, according to Fischer. If Houston works out an extension with Eason, it would likely be for four years, says Fischer, adding that cap strategists think the annual salary will come in lower than the $24.4MM Smith got from the Rockets earlier this year.
- Confirming that the Knicks have contacted multiple teams to gauge Pacome Dadiet‘s trade value, Fischer reports that multiple sources think New York started Dadiet in its preseason opener on Thursday in order to showcase him for a potential deal. Trading Dadiet would allow the Knicks to keep two veteran camp invitees instead of just one. While Malcolm Brogdon and Landry Shamet are widely viewed as the favorites to make the team in that scenario, Fischer has repeatedly heard that Garrison Mathews will get legitimate consideration for a regular season roster spot. Given their respective skill sets, Mathews would be more likely to supplant Shamet than Brogdon.
Oldest, Youngest Players On NBA Rosters For 2025/26
For a third straight fall, Lakers star LeBron James will enter the NBA season as the league’s oldest player.
James will turn 41 before the calendar year is over, but he’s not the only NBA player in his 40s like he was a year ago. His good friend Chris Paul, the NBA’s second-oldest player, turned 40 in May, and veteran point guard Kyle Lowry will join that club later in the season — he turns 40 in March.
It’s safe to say that not every player on the list of the NBA’s 10 oldest players will provide the level of production that James – or even Paul – will in 2025/26. Garrett Temple and Joe Ingles are among the players in that group who have transitioned to the “veteran leader” stage of their careers and will likely see limited action this season.
Still, it’s worth noting that Stephen Curry has cracked the list of the NBA’s oldest 10 players for the first time and continues to play at an All-NBA level, while Kevin Durant just missed making the cut (he’s currently the NBA’s 12th-oldest player) and is still putting up gaudy numbers as well.
Before we share the full list, we should also acknowledge that it’s subject to change. A few of the veterans who were on this list a year ago – P.J. Tucker, Taj Gibson, and James Johnson – remain unsigned, but it’s possible they’ll find new NBA homes in the coming days or weeks.
For now, here’s the list of the oldest players in the league heading into the 2025/26 NBA season:
- LeBron James, Lakers (born 12/30/1984)
- Chris Paul, Clippers (born 5/6/1985)
- Kyle Lowry, Sixers (born 3/25/1986)
- Garrett Temple, Raptors (born 5/8/1986)
- Al Horford, Warriors (born 6/3/1986)
- Jeff Green, Rockets (born 8/28/1986)
- Joe Ingles, Timberwolves (born 10/2/1987)
- Mike Conley, Timberwolves (born 10/11/1987)
- Stephen Curry, Warriors (born 3/14/1988)
- Brook Lopez, Clippers (born 4/1/1988)
It comes as no surprise that the Clippers and Warriors – the two oldest teams in the league – have multiple players on this list. Beyond these 10 veterans, there are only seven more active NBA players who were born in the 1980s, and three of them are either members of the Clippers or Warriors: Nicolas Batum, James Harden, and Jimmy Butler.
The Timberwolves are the only other club with multiple players among the NBA’s oldest, but Minnesota balances that out by being one of just two teams with a pair of players on the list of the league’s 10 youngest active players, joining the rebuilding Nets. Brooklyn actually just narrowly missed out on having three players in that top 10, with Egor Demin coming in at No. 11.
Here are the 10 youngest players currently on NBA rosters, each of whom was a 2025 draft pick:
Cooper Flagg, Mavericks (born 12/21/2006)- Noa Essengue, Bulls (born 12/18/2006)
- Joan Beringer, Timberwolves (born 11/6/2006)
- Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans (born 10/14/2006)
- Khaman Maluach, Suns (born 9/14/2006)
- Ace Bailey, Jazz (born 8/13/2006)
- Rocco Zikarsky, Timberwolves (born 7/11/2006)
- Note: Zikarsky is on a two-way contract.
- Kasparas Jakucionis, Heat (born 5/29/2006)
- Nolan Traore, Nets (born 5/28/2006)
- Ben Saraf, Nets (born 4/14/2006)
Flagg accomplishes the rare feat of entering the NBA as the league’s youngest player after after being selected first overall in the draft. He won’t turn 19 until two months into the regular season. No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper nearly joined him in this top 10, but his March 2, 2006 birth date wasn’t quite recent enough to make the cut.
Outside of the Timberwolves and Mavericks, the NBA’s rebuilding or retooling teams are fairly well represented on this list. One notable exception is the Wizards, who would have multiple players mentioned here if we expanded to a top 15 — Tre Johnson was born on March 7, 2006, while Will Riley was born about a month earlier, on February 10.
Warriors Notes: Seth Curry, Injury Risks, Butler, Jackson-Davis, Podziemski
At a news conference following Thursday’s practice, Seth Curry explained why he decided to join the Warriors after resisting the idea of teaming up with older brother Stephen Curry throughout his career, writes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. Seth told reporters that he was trying to “create my own path” in the NBA, and playing in his brother’s shadow would have interfered with that.
Coach Steve Kerr agreed with that reasoning, saying it would have been awkward to have both brothers on the team earlier in their careers.
“I don’t know if the timing was right (for Seth to join us) over recent years,” Kerr said. “We probably didn’t have playing time for him. He was in a place where he was going to teams and playing a lot, making money. It just feels like (Stephen and Seth are) both at a point in their careers where this makes a ton of sense. I’m thrilled to have Seth.”
While Steph became a legend in the Bay Area, the younger Curry faced a different journey, working his way up through the G League and playing for nine teams over the past 11 years. He has been a deadly outside shooter wherever he has gone, and Gordon notes that his career percentage of 43.3% from beyond the arc is slightly better than his brother, who is considered possibly the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history.
Seth holds a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal, and he’s expected to be waived before the start of the regular season. The plan is for him to rejoin the team at some point during the season on a pro-rated veteran’s minimum deal due to the Warriors’ hard-cap situation.
“Everybody’s excited about it,” he said. “Instead of watching more games, it should be just easier to watch my game, which is easier on everybody. Everybody is excited about it, except maybe my dad (Dell Curry). He didn’t want me to leave Charlotte.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Golden State will likely become the first team in NBA history with four starters who are at least 35 years old, so Kerr will have to be cognizant of playing time to minimize injuries, Gordon states in a separate story. Thirty-nine-year-old Al Horford joins Stephen Curry (37), Jimmy Butler (36) and Draymond Green (35), and the team has reserves Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield who will both turn 33 during the season. “We don’t want to be in a position where you’re chasing (a playoff berth) down the stretch of the season,” Curry said. “It felt like every game was a playoff game for two straight months and then you transition into a very tough seven-game series and then you’re 48 hours from a round two, Game 1. It was a very condensed high level of basketball.”
- Butler missed practice Friday and Saturday while recovering from a rolled ankle and Kerr considers him a “question mark” for Sunday’s preseason opener, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link). Trayce Jackson-Davis has a taped right thumb and is also considered questionable.
- Brandin Podziemski was used as a starter at Thursday’s practice, but Kerr said nothing has been decided yet, per Anthony Slater of ESPN (Twitter link).
Nuggets Notes: Bench Squad, Valanciunas, Jokic, Hardaway
Heading into training camp with a set starting lineup, Nuggets coach David Adelman has been able to focus on figuring out his bench rotation, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson and Jonas Valanciunas have been the main group scrimmaging against the starters, but Adelman said “that second unit will fluctuate” as he rotates in other players.
Brown, a reserve on Denver’s 2023 title team who returned as a free agent this summer, likes the way that group fits together. “I think we can do everything,” he said. “We’ve got shooters. We’ve got defenders.”
Durando notes that the current fivesome is heavy on wings, so Jalen Pickett, DaRon Holmes II, Zeke Nnaji or Hunter Tyson may be added to the mix. Cameron Johnson told Durando that Pickett has been outstanding in camp at running the second and third units.
There’s more on the Nuggets:
- Valanciunas, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Sacramento, has been orchestrating the offense for the second team much like Nikola Jokic does with the starters, Durando adds in the same story. Durando suggests that Adelman could decide to surround Valanciunas with four smaller players in a motion-based offense. “This has been good for him to get used to our system a little bit,” Adelman said. “He hasn’t done some of this stuff outside of a couple months in Sacramento, playing off the elbow and the top of the key. … So I have to do him a service. We’ve gotta get to some post-up plays and things that he’s used to.”
- Jokic will have the freedom to determine how far he wants to venture away from the rim on defense, Durando states in a separate story. Adelman trusts his veteran center to recognize what level of drop coverage is appropriate based on the opponent. “There’s so many levels of drops,” Adelman said. “He won’t be just at the rim like he’s (Rudy) Gobert. But it’s just looking for maybe a little more of (him defending) down the floor, a couple steps down the floor. And more so, I think what we’re trying to create with him — he’s so high-IQ — is the Marc Gasol model, where he’s choosing his levels depending on the quality of player or what the player does well. We all know his IQ is so high, but we have to work on that and allow him to work on it in practice.”
- Hardway said the team’s style of play led him to join the Nuggets in free agency, relays Jared Koch of Sports Illustrated. “Everybody’s moving without the ball nonstop, basically sharing the wealth,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is just make the right play time after time after time again, and great things will happen.”
Southeast Notes: J. Johnson, Daniels, T. Jones, Mann
Hawks forward Jalen Johnson may have been headed for his first All-Star appearance before a torn labrum in his left shoulder ended his season in January. Now that he’s fully recovered, he’s eager to start competing again after nine months away from the game, writes Bill Trocchi of The Associated Press.
“I’m just excited for a basketball game,” Johnson said. “It’s been a long time since January, so I’m excited to get out on the court, preseason, training camp. I’m excited to be full go and fully healthy going into the season.”
The Hawks made several important additions during Johnson’s absence, bringing in Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard, and Johnson said he’s been spending training camp learning how to play alongside them. Coach Quin Snyder told Trocchi that Johnson will handle the ball more often this season and will create easier opportunities for his teammates.
“Other guys on the team benefit from Jalen because of his play-making ability,” Snyder said. “Jalen is such a good passer and willing passer that he’s ready to play-make even more. … (With the new lineup), he will be in spacing situations where he can just catch and shoot. We want him to do that, just to let it fly. We trust him in that regard.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- After capturing Most Improved Player honors last season, Dyson Daniels spent the summer trying to raise his game even further, per Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required). The Hawks guard is making an effort to become a more versatile offensive player. “I was able to go and make improvements in a lot of ways,” Daniels said. “I worked a lot on my midrange game, being able to get to spots, different pickups, different footwork, getting good shots, trying to develop that offensive bag. And I think that’s been the main focus for me this summer.”
- Point guard Tyus Jones seems like an ideal addition for a Magic team that has experienced difficulty with holding onto the ball in recent years, observes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Jones, who led the NBA in assists-to-turnover ratio for six straight seasons, said he considered joining Orlando for a while before signing as a free agent this summer. “This has been a place where I’ve kind of had my eye on and thought the fit was there the last few years,” he said. “It eventually played itself out and the time is right now. I’m excited to be here. I plan on making those fans happy and look forward to playing in front of them.”
- Hornets guard Tre Mann is happy to be able to play again after a back injury derailed last season after 13 games, relays Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. Mann admitted going through a “dark time” during the long recovery process, but now says he’s grateful for “just being in the NBA, being healthy and putting on the NBA jersey.”
Knicks Notes: Brogdon, Brown, Hart, Brunson
Malcolm Brogdon got first-half minutes Saturday in Abu Dhabi as part of the competition for a Knicks‘ roster spot, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Coach Mike Brown is giving all three veterans with non-guaranteed contracts a chance to be on the floor with rotation players. Landry Shamet got his opportunity on Thursday, and Garrison Mathews is expected to be in that role during Friday’s game against Minnesota.
“Trying to see different guys we’ve signed with different combinations,” Brown said. “And putting them in at different — I may throw a guy in for three minutes. And if I throw him in for three minutes, part of that is I may use him that way in the regular season or I may use him that way if he makes the team in the regular season. So how does he respond? So I’m experimenting right now.”
Brogdon posted five points, four rebounds and two steals in 13 minutes as New York wrapped up a sweep of Philadelphia in their two overseas games. Playing in the second half, Shamet went scoreless in nine minutes and Mathews finished with six points while shooting 1-of-5 from the field.
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Josh Hart was held out of action today after suffering a back injury that a team representative is calling “spasms,” Bondy adds in the same piece. Hart fell to the court in pain in the second quarter of Thursday’s game and was holding his lower back as he walked to the locker room. “It’s preseason and we’re going to err on the side of caution,” the representative told Bondy. “We’ll see where he is when (we get home).”
- The Knicks were more successful in implementing Brown’s up-tempo offense in their second game under their new head coach, Bondy states in a separate story. Brown wants his team to push the ball in transition, and Jalen Brunson said the guards ran to the corners every time Philadelphia missed a shot. “Pace doesn’t necessarily mean fast,” Brunson said. “Obviously we want to get the ball across half-court in a certain time frame. But it’s about playing smart, seeing what the defense does and just reading that. We weren’t really trying to leak out, but we were trying to sprint to corners and we were getting behind the defense and we were able to get layups. So as long as we come away with a stop, that allows us to run.”
- Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News assesses the players who saw court time in Abu Dhabi and examines how their games are changing with Brown in charge.
Celtics Notes: Brown, Mazzulla, Gonzalez, Horford
Jayson Tatum‘s injury and the departure of several veteran players forced Celtics star Jaylen Brown to take on a larger leadership role, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Brown typically travels during the summer, Washburn notes, but he spent more time in Boston this year in an effort to bond with his new teammates.
“It’s a little bit sad, a lot of the guys I spent a lot of time with, we had such a great group over the last couple of years,” he said. “To see them not be around anymore obviously is going to have an effect on our team, but we have five new players we’ve got to get on board and acclimated into the system. And I’m trying to expedite that chemistry building, that trust building so you guys can see a good product when we get to the floor. But some of that stuff takes time — it doesn’t happen overnight — but I’m looking forward to it.”
Mentoring may not seem like a natural role to anyone who watched Brown closely during his first nine NBA seasons, Washburn adds. Brown often projected a hard exterior, but he said he’s found “a different level of peace” at this point in his career, and Washburn observes that he seems to be smiling and enjoying himself more than in the past.
“I would say a lot of times I felt like I had to operate a certain way to protect myself, and it was kind of the way I felt like I had to be in order not to lose my mind a little bit,” Brown said. “But I feel like I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I’m at peace, and I feel like I can express more of myself to the world in a sense where I just haven’t opened up in the last (several) years. More so showing the world who Jaylen Brown is.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Assistant coach Sam Cassell said the start of training camp has been the most difficult he’s seen since he entered the NBA 34 years ago, but head coach Joe Mazzulla disputes that description, Washburn states in a separate story. “Everything in this world today is recency bias,” Mazzulla said. “Every time is this is the best ever. We don’t remember the way we felt last year or two years ago or three years ago. That’s just a classic recency bias of whatever you’re going through right now is the biggest, the best, the most important, the hardest, the easiest. None of that really matters. It depends on where you’re at in the moment.”
- Picking up team concepts and strategy has been difficult for first-round pick Hugo Gonzalez because he speaks limited English, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. The former Real Madrid guard said the coaches have been patient as he tries to learn the language. “We’re going really, really deep now in these practices and also in the training camp that we’ve got,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going deep in the details. I think that apart from the basics, they are the most important thing. We’re going into detail on every single situation so that when we are in the game and we’ve got that situation, we can handle it in the best way possible so we can succeed on defense.”
- In a mailbag column, Brian Robb of The Boston Globe examines whether the Celtics should have tried harder to keep Al Horford, who will only make about $5.7MM this season with Golden State. Robb points out that Boston was disadvantaged by its need to avoid the repeater tax, which would cause a $5MM contract to cost close to $20MM with penalties factored in.
Lakers Notes: Ayton, LeBron, Vanderbilt, Bronny
Deandre Ayton only scored one point in 18 minutes on Friday night in his first game with the Lakers, but he preferred to focus on his two blocked shots, which he said are an indication of his commitment to defense, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Ayton, who signed with L.A. this summer after reaching a buyout in Portland, said his primary focus is providing a defensive presence in the middle.
“I wanted to show the team I’m more committed on the defensive end more than the offense in a way,” Ayton said. “Like I say from the get-go, I’m not really here for numbers. I’m just here for whatever the Lakers really want me to do. And the main objective is really protecting that rim and closing out our possessions. And I had fun man, just blocking some shots, just being that anchor and seeing how the guys responded to me.”
Ayton, who missed both his field goal attempts, added that he’s not expecting to take a certain number of shots each night and is willing to let Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves determine his role in the offense.
“(Coach JJ Redick) is trusting these dudes to be our main primary ball handlers and me being the big man in the paint,” Ayton said. “I’m absorbing all of that. It (will) probably be hard not to touch the ball with them great play-makers, to be honest.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- James missed Friday’s game while recovering from a glute issue, and Redick said the Lakers are taking a “little bit longer of a ramp-up” with their 40-year-old star as they try to get him ready for opening night, Price adds. “For him, it’s different in Year 23,” Redick said. “A normal return-to-play protocol, we try to get 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3 exposures versus coaches. And that eventually gets to 3-on-3 live. He knows his body. And so we’ll work with him. We’ll work with (James’ longtime trainer) Mike (Mancias) on making sure he gets a point of comfort where he can sort of be a full participant. But he’s been on the court every day. He’s been in the weight room, continuing to get his body ready.”
- Jarred Vanderbilt made an impact on defense on Friday, displaying why Lakers officials have been raving about him in training camp, observes Law Murray of The Athletic. Injuries have limited Vanderbilt to 29 and 36 games the past two seasons, but Murray suggests he could challenge Rui Hachimura for the starting power forward spot if he can improve his outside shooting.
- Bronny James suffered through a rough shooting night on Friday, going 1-of-12 from the field, but Redick gave him a vote of confidence and cited his improvement over the past year, per Greg Beacham of The Associated Press. “He is so much more comfortable and confident as a player,” Redick said. “Skill-wise, read-wise, all of those things have improved, but there’s a big difference between improving those things in individual workouts and small group settings, and doing it 5-on-5. … He’s a totally different player than he was a year ago. I thought the stuff that he did down in the G League last year was huge for him in developing a comfort level in playing at this level.”