Mavericks Release Banton, Robinson-Earl, Smith
The Mavericks have requested waivers on Dalano Banton, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Dennis Smith Jr., the team announced today (Twitter link).
All three NBA veterans were on non-guaranteed contracts for training camp. Banton’s deal contained both Exhibit 9 and Exhibit 10 language, meaning he’s now eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he reports to the Texas Legends and spends at least 60 days with Dallas’ G League affiliate.
Robinson-Earl and Smith, meanwhile, were on Exhibit 9 deals, protecting the Mavs in the event of an injury to either player, which thankfully did not occur.
Banton was the 46th overall pick in the 2021 draft and has played in 216 regular season games for Toronto, Boston and Portland over the past four seasons. In ’24/25, he made a career-high 67 appearances, averaging 8.3 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.0 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .391/.324/.728.
The Canadian guard looked like a relative long shot to make Dallas’ roster, given that he was signed a week after training camp had gotten underway.
Robinson-Earl, a 6’9″ forward/center, was also selected in the second round of 2021 (32nd overall) and has appeared in 197 regular season contests for Oklahoma City and New Orleans over the past four seasons. In ’24/25, he averaged 6.3 PPG and 4.8 RPG in a career-best 66 games (18.8 MPG) for the Pelicans, posting a shooting slash line of .455/.341/.836.
Robinson-Early had by far the largest role of the three players during preseason, appearing in all four games for the Mavs while averaging 7.3 PPG and 4.0 MPG in 12.2 MPG.
Despite being out of the NBA last season, Smith is undoubtedly the most familiar face for Mavs fans. Dallas selected the 6’2″ guard No. 9 overall back in 2017, but wound up trading him to New York during his second season as part of the Kristaps Porzingis blockbuster.
Smith has developed into a strong point-of-attack defender, but has struggled to score efficiently throughout his seven-year career. He drew praise from head coach Jason Kidd multiple times during training camp.
The moves seemingly indicate that the Mavs intend to keep guards Dante Exum and Brandon Williams on their standard roster. Exum’s minimum-salary contract is fully guaranteed, but he has dealt with a right knee injury during training camp and preseason and could miss extended time.
While Williams’ deal is only partially guaranteed for $200K in 2025/26, Dallas has been encouraged by the 25-year-old’s development over the past couple seasons, having promoted him from a two-way deal at the end of ’24/25.
The Mavs now have 18 players under contract.
Rockets Sign, Waive Daishen Nix, Caleb McConnell
3:38 pm: Both players have been waived, according to the Rockets (Twitter link via Smith). Houston is now back at 18 players under contract.
3:00 pm: The Rockets have signed a pair of free agent guards, announcing that they’ve added Daishen Nix and Caleb McConnell to their roster (Twitter link via Keith Smith of Spotrac). Houston now has 20 players under contract, one below the preseason limit.
Nix, who has appeared in 99 NBA regular season games since entering the league in 2021, spent the first two years of his career in Houston and played for the Rockets’ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, for much of last season after opening the year on a two-way deal with Minnesota.
In 24 games for the Vipers in 2024/25, Nix averaged 15.3 points, 7.0 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 32.2 minutes per contest. However, the 6’4″ guard struggled to score efficiently and take care of the basketball — he made just 26.4% of 5.0 three-point attempts per game and averaged 3.8 turnovers per night.
McConnell, a 6’7″ shooting guard, has played in the G League since going undrafted out of Rutgers in 2023. He made 42 appearances for the Greensboro Swarm last season and registered averages of 6.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.6 steals in 25.9 minutes per game.
McConnell was a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the Scarlet Knights.
The Vipers hold Nix’s returning rights and acquired McConnell’s in a multi-team trade earlier this week, so it’s highly likely that both players will be waived in the next 24 hours or so and then report to Houston’s NBAGL affiliate. Assuming they received Exhibit 10 contracts, which is likely, they’ll each earn a bonus worth up to $85,300 if they spend at least 60 days with the Vipers.
Bucks Sign A.J. Green To Four-Year Extension
October 17: Green’s extension with the Bucks is now official, according to a team press release.
October 16: The Bucks and sharpshooter A.J. Green are in agreement on a four-year, $45MM contract extension, agent Matt Bollero tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). According to Charania, the deal is fully guaranteed.
Green, 26, joined the Bucks in 2022 as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Iowa. After playing a modest role in his first two seasons, he emerged as a consistent part of the team’s regular rotation in 2024/25, logging a career-high 22.7 minutes per game in 73 outings and averaging 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per night.
Green is a 6’4″ three-and-D wing with a career rate of 42.1% from beyond the arc, including 42.7% last season. The Bucks had a +6.4 net rating during his 1,659 minutes of action in ’24/25, compared to a -0.9 mark in the 2,292 minutes he didn’t play.
Because he was an undrafted free agent rather than a former first-round pick, Green was eligible for a veteran contract extension – not a rookie scale extension – as he entered the final year of his current contract with Milwaukee.
His salary of $2.3MM in 2025/26 is well below the NBA’s estimated average salary ($13.87MM). That meant he was eligible to receive a starting salary worth up to 40% of the estimated average salary on an extension, which worked out to a maximum of $87MM over four seasons.
However, as I wrote earlier this week when I identified Green as an under-the-radar extension candidate to watch, the Bucks were never likely to have to go nearly that high to retain him. I pointed to Sam Merrill‘s recent contract with Cleveland (four years, $38MM) as a reference point for Green and noted that he’s three years younger than Merrill and has been a more accurate shooter (albeit on a lower volume), so he had a case for an eight-figure annual salary.
Still, getting four guaranteed years at more than $11MM per season is a big win for Green — as ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), his career earnings to date, including his salary for the coming season, total just $6.3MM.
Green is now just one of two Bucks players who is owed guaranteed money beyond the 2026/27 season, along with Myles Turner. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, Ryan Rollins, and Tyler Smith all have player or team options for ’27/28 on their respective deals.
New York Notes: Kolek, Yabusele, Thomas, Powell
In the wake of Malcolm Brogdon‘s sudden retirement announcement, the Knicks are weighing their options for the backup point guard position behind Jalen Brunson.
In the view of Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required), the team has three options: Trade for a backup, give second-year guard Tyler Kolek a chance to earn a rotation role, or take a committee approach, with Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges all taking on additional ball-handling responsibilities.
For his part, Brunson doesn’t sound like someone who wants the front office to go out and make a trade to fortify the depth at his position. He expressed confidence in the team’s in-house options, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post.
“We’re in good hands, great hands,” Brunson said on Thursday. “[Kolek] has been getting better every day. Deuce has been getting better every day. Those guys, they come in and they work on their game nonstop. When you see that, you have the utmost confidence that when their number is called they’re going to be ready to go. So like I said, we’re in good hands.”
Head coach Mike Brown also made it clear he’s not particularly concerned about how the Knicks will get by when Brunson is off the court.
“We feel like we have a deep roster, and a lot of guys will have an opportunity to grab whatever minutes might have been there or might not have been there,” Brown said, per Botte. “It’s just a case of earning your stripes, and we’ll figure it out at the end of the day, whoever’s gonna get whatever minutes are available.”
Here are a few more notes on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- It hasn’t been an especially memorable preseason for Knicks forward/center Guerschon Yabusele, who has scored just seven points on 3-of-13 shooting in 42 total minutes of action through three games. As Bondy writes for The New York Post, Brown and the Knicks recognize that there will be a “learning curve” for the newcomer as he adjusts to both a new team and a new system. “I’m really trying to be as much as I can be focused to try to get every detail to make sure I’m at the right spot,” Yabusele said. “For me, it’s a new team with new guys so I really try to fit into the system and be a solution, not a problem.”
- Brown has expressed a desire to treat Friday’s preseason finale as a dress rehearsal for the season and use his “normal rotation” for the game. However, four key Knicks – Hart (back), OG Anunoby (ankle), Karl-Anthony Towns (quad), and Mitchell Robinson (load management) – are considered day-to-day and may not be in position to play big minutes, if they’re available at all, writes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News (subscription required).
- Given the make-up of the Nets‘ roster, it’s safe to assume Cam Thomas will do plenty of shooting and scoring in 2025/26. Still, head coach Jordi Fernandez is pushing Thomas to take advantage of the defensive attention he’ll receive by improving his play-making and creating shots for teammates, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Yeah, me and Jordi always talk about it, we always have conversations about it,” Thomas said. “Jordi is also very understanding of who I am as a player. He knows I’m a scorer and he knows how I play. But it’s also the fine line of being aggressive, get your own shot and then getting guys other shots. We always have that dialogue, and it’s great. So this year we have a better understanding. He has a better understanding of me, and I have a better understanding of what he wants.”
- Nets rookie Drake Powell‘s 13.8% usage rate during his first and only season at UNC was the lowest of any wing ever drafted, per The Athletic, but Fernandez isn’t concerned at all about that, writes Lewis. “I wasn’t there [at UNC], and I cannot judge whether it’s positive or negative,” the Nets’ head coach said. “But I see [Powell] as an elite on-ball defender, as probably the best athlete of this draft, a player that can run a play on the second side, a very good ball-handler. … He’s going to have to take advantage of his minutes. If he starts with [an] opportunity, great. If not, the opportunity will come.”
And-Ones: Team USA, Role Players, M. Jones, Balcetis
Speaking to reporters at a Thursday press conference to formally introduce Erik Spoelstra as Team USA’s new men’s basketball head coach, managing director Grant Hill said that winning a World Cup for the first time since 2014 is the “first order of business” for the national team, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
The U.S. finished seventh at the 2019 World Cup and fourth in 2023, failing to secure a medal at either event. Typically, the World Cup rosters featured less established stars than the Olympic squads, and that likely won’t change going forward, according to Vardon, who points to Cooper Flagg and Evan Mobley as a couple possibilities for the 2027 team. For his part, Hill is in no rush to lock in on any specific players quite yet.
“We have some time, and one of the great things is to see who emerges,” Hill said. “You have two years before the World Cup, and it seems like every season there are players who take a step in their development and become better players, All-Star players, players whose games translate to international play.
“It’s great to get these players in the pipeline. The great thing is, yes, the world is getting better, but we are too. We still have some great players in this country, great young players. And you know, it’s on me to get out and recruit and you know, sort of share with guys the importance of doing this.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Fred Katz of The Athletic identifies five role players around the NBA who could end up being pivotal contributors for their respective teams this season, including Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr., Cavaliers wing De’Andre Hunter, and Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr.
- After signing him last month, the Perth Wildcats have parted ways with former NBA guard Mason Jones, as Olgun Uluc of ESPN writes. Jones, who was named the MVP of the 2025 G League Finals in April, struggled in his first five games in Australia’s National Basketball League, shooting just 34.7% from the floor, including 27.6% on three-pointers. The Wildcats are exploring the market for a new import guard to replace him, per Uluc.
- Former Nuggets assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis is joining Zalgiris Kaunas as the Lithuanian club’s head of innovations, according to BasketNews. Balcetis was considered a potential candidate to run Denver’s front office after the team fired Calvin Booth in the spring, but the Nuggets opted to promote Ben Tenzer into that position and didn’t renew Balcetis’ contract.
- NBA rookies and award winners will wear patches on their jerseys this season as part of the league’s partnership with Fanatic/Topps. Dan Hajducky of ESPN has the details on the new program.
Why Most Teams Will Finalize Roster Cuts On Saturday
NBA teams have until Monday night (Oct. 20) to officially set their rosters for the 2025/26 regular season. However, a majority of NBA teams will likely have their rosters ready to go on Saturday, with far more roster cuts expected today and tomorrow than on Sunday or Monday.
Why is that? Well, releasing a player on Saturday will ensure he clears waivers on Monday, before the regular season gets underway.
Players who are cut during the season are also paid for each day they spend on waivers, so a player who hits waivers on Sunday and doesn’t clear until the first day of the season on Tuesday would technically earn one day’s worth of pay, even if his contract isn’t guaranteed. A player released on Monday would spend two regular season days on waivers.
[RELATED: 2025/26 NBA Roster Counts]
For players with partial or full guarantees, spending the first day or two of the regular season on waivers doesn’t really matter, since they’re getting their full 2025/26 salary (or their partial guarantees) no matter when they’re released. But if a team waits until Monday to cut a player with a non-guaranteed salary, that team will be on the hook for two days’ worth of dead money for the player.
Two days’ worth of dead money won’t exactly break the bank — it would range from about $15K to $42K for a minimum-salary player. Still, most teams already know which players are in and which are out, so there’s no need to take the decision down to the wire on Monday. They’ll make those cuts sooner rather than later to avoid adding extra cap charges to their books for ’25/26. Even that small amount of savings could be important for teams who are right around the tax line or up against a hard cap.
While many teams will make their cuts on Saturday, a handful of clubs can afford to wait an extra day or two if they want to, since they’ll be waiving (or trading) players who have full or partial guarantees.
The Wizards, for instance, have 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus Justin Champagnie on a non-guaranteed deal, so unless they can find a trade involving one of those 16 players, they’ll need to waive one of them.
Unless they plan to cut Champagnie, which seems unlikely given his contributions last season, waiting until Sunday or Monday to make that roster move won’t affect the Wizards’ cap outlook at all — the other 15 players on standard contracts are assured of receiving their full-season salaries regardless of whether they’re waived on Saturday or Monday — or whether they spend the entire season under contract.
Additionally, teams whose final roster moves won’t involve placing a player on waivers can afford to wait until Monday to complete those moves.
For example, the Thunder currently have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, two on two-way contracts, and four on Exhibit 10 deals. While we don’t know exactly what the team’s plan is, Oklahoma City could cut three of those Exhibit 10 players on Saturday, then convert the other one to a two-way contract on Monday in order to set its roster for the regular season.
Extension Rumors: Herro, Heat, Porzingis, Daniels, M. Robinson
Although All-Star guard Tyler Herro has expressed interest in signing a contract extension with the Heat before the regular season begins, there haven’t been substantive discussions to this point, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who hears from sources that a preseason deal is doubtful.
Because Herro has two guaranteed seasons left on his current contract, he wouldn’t be eligible to sign an extension during the season. If he and Heat don’t work out an agreement on or before Monday, his next window to sign a new deal would be during the 2026 offseason.
Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins are also extension-eligible, but a long-term deal for either player appears unlikely in the short term, Windhorst writes.
As ESPN’s Tim Bontemps observes within the same story, the Heat are one of a handful of teams looking to maximize their cap flexibility for the summer of 2027, which is when several stars – including Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Donovan Mitchell – are currently projected to reach free agency. That doesn’t necessarily mean a player like Herro or Powell won’t sign an extension sooner or later, but Miami may be reluctant to sacrifice 2027 cap room until they have “good reason” to, Bontemps explains.
Here are a few more notes and rumors on potential extension candidates:
- There’s mutual interest between the Hawks and Kristaps Porzingis in a new contract, but the two sides are comfortable waiting to see how the season plays out, says Windhorst. That lines up with recent public comments from Porzingis on the subject. Both Porzingis and Trae Young are expected to have to wait on potential extensions, though Young would ideally like to replace his $49MM player option for 2026/27 with a lucrative new deal sooner or later, per Windhorst.
- The Hawks are negotiating with rookie scale extension candidate Dyson Daniels ahead of Monday’s deadline, Bontemps confirms. ESPN’s Bobby Marks suggested earlier this week that Daniels’ agent, Daniel Moldovan, is using Jalen Suggs‘ five-year, $150MM as the key point of comparison for his client. Daniels’ teammate Jalen Johnson signed an identical extension last fall.
- The Knicks and Mitchell Robinson have spoken about a possible extension, but haven’t gained any real traction, sources tell Windhorst. According to Windhorst, there’s also no urgency for the Knicks and Karl-Anthony Towns to work out a new contract — he’s extension-eligible, but has two guaranteed years and a player option left on his current deal.
- Marks and Bontemps took a closer look at several of the remaining rookie scale extension candidates, speculating about what fair contracts might look like and predicting which ones will get done.
Sixers’ Embiid, Clippers’ Beal Set For Preseason Debuts
Sixers center Joel Embiid has been cleared to suit up on Friday for the team’s preseason finale against Minnesota, league sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
Embiid has been ramping up this fall after undergoing surgery on his knee in the spring. Haynes had reported on Thursday that – while his status for Friday’s preseason game was up in the air – the star center was on track to be available for the start of the regular season next week. Now it appears he’ll see some action before opening night.
Clippers guard Bradley Beal is also expected to play his first game of the preseason on Friday when L.A. faces Golden State, reports Haynes (Twitter link).
Beal played through right knee inflammation in Phoenix in 2024/25 and underwent arthroscopic surgery on that knee after his season ended to address the issue. He was a limited participant in training camp this month and has yet to suit up for a preseason contest, but it sounds like he’s ready to play in his first game as a Clipper.
It’s unclear how many minutes Embiid or Beal will see tonight — the goal will presumably be to get them some reps and to make sure they get through their fall debuts without any setbacks. Assuming that happens, both players should be active when the regular season tips off next week.
Bulls Notes: Okoro, Vucevic, Williams, Dosunmu
Entering the preseason, it seemed obvious that Josh Giddey, Coby White, Matas Buzelis, and Nikola Vucevic would be part of the Bulls‘ starting lineup, but the fifth spot in that unit remained up for grabs. As Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required) wrote when she explored the topic earlier this week, Isaac Okoro, Kevin Huerter, Ayo Dosunmu, and Tre Jones all looked like candidates for the role.
Now that the Bulls’ preseason has wrapped up, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times believes Okoro is the frontrunner to be the team’s fifth starter, and head coach Billy Donovan acknowledged that he’d be comfortable having the newly added forward defending the opponent’s best perimeter player. However, Donovan also stressed that he doesn’t necessarily plan to lock in a lineup and rotation and stick with that group indefinitely.
“I’ve talked to these guys about it, and it’s not probably necessarily conventional just from the perspective of we’ve got to get out of the old-school NBA mindset of, ‘Here’s my rotation, here’s my guys that go in the game and here’s how many minutes they play,'” Donovan said. “I just don’t know if we’re going to be able to do that.
“Probably over 82 games, there will be a consistent group that starts, but maybe some nights we have to change the starting lineup. In my opinion, we have to change starting lineups based on who we’re playing and what the matchups look like for us.”
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Although Vucevic will turn 35 next week and is entering the final year of his current contract, he’s not thinking about the end of his playing career at this point, as Poe relays for The Chicago Tribune (subscription required). “Retirement is not something that’s at all on my mind,” Vucevic said. “I’m just trying to enjoy it — as long, as much as I can.”
- With the start of the season around the corner, Poe poses five questions facing the Bulls, including whether Buzelis is on an All-Star trajectory, whether White (calf strain) will be available for opening night, and how often the club will use a two-big lineup featuring Vucvic and Jalen Smith.
- After a disappointing fifth year, expectations will be lower for former No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams as he enters his sixth NBA season, according to Cowley. However, the forward is feeling as healthy as he has in a while and will be focusing on producing more consistently for the Bulls, writes Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic. Donovan, who said he believes Williams can still “carve out a really good niche for himself as an NBA player,” noted that he has seen growth from the 24-year-old but stressed the need for him to be able to string together several good games in a row. “As it relates to Patrick, his minutes and stuff like that, a lot of it will be how consistent he’s playing,” Donovan said. “If it’s not going well — for anybody — we may have to go with someone else.”
- Dosunmu has played well in the preseason and appears well positioned for a strong contract year, Cowley writes for The Sun-Times. For his part though, the fifth-year guard isn’t thinking about potential 2026 free agency or what an extension would look like, he recently told reporters. “My main focus is just taking it one day at a time, not worrying about next July or whenever it is, because that’s going to happen when it’s going to happen,” Dosunmu said. “Just stay in the moment.”
Russell Westbrook Signs With Kings
October 17: Westbrook’s deal is non-guaranteed, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
October 16: Westbrook is officially a King, the team announced in a press release.
“Russell embodies the identity we’re striving for in Sacramento,” said Kings general manager Scott Perry. “His resume speaks for itself and I’m excited to work with someone so accomplished, who is fully committed to competing and winning. We expect him to strengthen our point guard position and provide leadership both on and off the court.”
October 15: Free agent point guard Russell Westbrook has agreed to sign with the Kings, agent Jeff Schwartz tells Shams Charania of ESPN.
Westbrook has been linked to Sacramento since the start of free agency. Earlier in the summer, there was a sense that the team would need to trade a guard in order to balance its roster and create an opening in the rotation for Westbrook, but Charania reported last week that there was still “strong mutual interest” between the former MVP and the Kings. Now the two sides are in agreement on a deal.
According to Charania, Westbrook has bonds with Kings veterans Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine, as well as assistant general manager B.J. Armstrong, who used to be a player agent. And while the Kings are relatively deep in the backcourt, with Malik Monk, Keon Ellis, and Devin Carter on their bench, they lacked an experienced traditional point guard behind Dennis Schröder.
Westbrook, who will turn 37 next month, has transitioned into a complementary role in recent years after earning nine All-Star nods earlier in his career. Last season, he appeared in 75 games for Denver, making 36 starts and playing 27.9 minutes per night. He registered averages of 13.3 points, 6.1 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game, with a shooting line of .449/.323/.661.
Although Westbrook earned praise from some Nuggets teammates and coaches for his motor and competitiveness, his playing style results in plenty of turnovers (3.2 per game last season) and he’s not a reliable outside shooter, which can create lineup and spacing issues.
Those were presumably among the reasons why he remained unsigned until three-and-a-half months into free agency after declining a $3.47M player option in June. However, new general manager Scott Perry views Westbrook as a good fit for the “high motor, high effort” culture he wants to establish in Sacramento, per Charania.
Westbrook will sign a one-year, minimum-salary contract, per James Ham of the Kings Beat (Twitter link). On that deal, he’ll earn a $3,634,153 salary in 2025/26 while the club carries a cap hit of $2,296,274. Ham is one of several reporters who have stated that the deal is expected to become official on Thursday.
There’s a spot for Westbrook on the Kings’ projected 15-man roster. The team is currently carrying 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Ellis and Terence Davis on non-guaranteed deals. Westbrook and Ellis are presumably on track to fill those last two openings, with Davis the odd man out.