Warriors Sign Alex Toohey To Two-Way Deal
September 29: Toohey’s two-way contract with the Warriors is now official, according to a press release from the team (Twitter link).
September 28: The Warriors are signing rookie Alex Toohey to a two-way contract, reports Shams Charania for ESPN (Twitter link).
Toohey, a 6’7″ forward out of Australia, played two years with the Sydney Kings prior to coming over to the NBA. Last season, he averaged 10.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 23.0 minutes per game. In six Summer League games for the Warriors, he averaged 6.8 PPG and 3.8 RPG.
Toohey, the No. 52 pick this summer, was the last player from the 2025 draft class whose plans for the 2025/26 season have been confirmed, after new teammate Will Richard agreed to a four-year contract with the Warriors earlier today.
Golden State previously signed Jackson Rowe on a two-way deal, and they have extended a qualifying offer for Taran Armstrong as they look to finalize their roster outside of the ongoing stalemate with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga.
Warriors Sign Payton, Richard; Will Bring Back Melton
September 29, 12:30 pm: The Warriors’ deals with Payton and Richard are now official, according to the team (Twitter links). Since both contracts are worth the minimum, making them official won’t affect Golden State’s other signings.
September 28, 7:42 pm: Free agent guards Gary Payton II and De’Anthony Melton have committed to deals with the Warriors, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
The terms of the deal were not included in the report, though they’re likely to be worth the veteran’s minimum. These signings have long been expected around the league, with the understanding being that the Warriors were waiting to complete them until after they finalized their restricted free agency standoff with Jonathan Kuminga.
Payton, a nine-year NBA veteran, has spent a little over four seasons with the Warriors over the course of his career. While he has dealt with injuries in recent years, he appeared in 62 games last season for Golden State, averaging 6.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.8 steals in 15.0 minutes per contest while serving as a versatile, defensive-minded guard/forward who can attack in transition.
Melton is another defensive guard with some injury concerns that have popped up in recent years. He signed with the Warriors ahead of the 2024/25 season, but tore his ACL in just his sixth game with the team, ending his season. Golden State included him in its December trade with the Nets for Dennis Schröder.
During his time with the Warriors, Melton averaged 10.3 points, 2.8 assists, and 1.2 steals in 20.2 minutes per night. He has only played in 45 games over the last two seasons and will be hoping for a bounce-back year in terms of health.
The Warriors are also signing rookie Will Richard to a four-year contract, Charania reports (via Twitter). The No. 56 pick in the 2025 draft will receive two fully guaranteed years in the deal.
Richard is a four-year college player who spent his final three seasons for Florida. As a senior in 2024/25, he averaged 13.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game and played a key role on the championship-winning team. In six Summer League games for the Warriors, Richard averaged 11.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.8 SPG.
Word of these three deals follows the report earlier in the day that free agent big man Al Horford had agreed to a multiyear deal with the Warriors. Judging by the four signings, the Warriors appear to be targeting defense, especially along the perimeter, and some level of versatility as they look to round out their roster.
Anthony Slater of ESPN notes (via Twitter) that Horford, Payton, Melton, and Richard will occupy roster spots nine through 13 for the Warriors, and that the 14th spot is currently left for the resolution of the Kuminga standoff.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks adds (via Twitter) that as long as the Warriors don’t sign Kuminga to a deal with a starting salary higher than approximately $23MM, they would have the ability to add a 15th player and remain below the second tax apron. That projection assumes Horford receives the full taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap Golden State at the second apron.
Malcolm Brogdon On Decision To Compete For Knicks Roster Spot
Malcolm Brogdon, who joined the Knicks on a non-guaranteed deal, is confident in his ability to win a regular season roster spot in training camp, writes Kristian Winfield for the New York Daily News. That confidence showed in Brogdon’s claims that he turned down other chances with NBA teams in order to join New York.
“I come here with the expectation I’m going to make the team,” Brogdon said today. “I feel what I bring to the table and have to offer, I can help this team. The decision is out of my control but I feel like I have what it takes to help this team.”
Brogdon, a nine-year NBA veteran, holds career averages of 15.3 points, 4.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game on .463/.388/.874shooting splits, but three of the last four years have been beset by injuries. He appeared in a career-low 24 games in 2024/25.
However, he spent last season, as well as ’23/24, on teams that were not in win-now positions, and Brogdon said he’s feeling good about the chance to be back on a team with loftier ambitions.
“Going into my 10th year, I wanted to be in a good organization that’s competing and trying to win a championship,” he said. “I had that in Milwaukee, Boston, and here I think there’s a real shot.”
Winfield notes that ball-handling around star Jalen Brunson was an area of weakness for the Knicks last season, and that the addition of Brogdon, as well as free agent signing Jordan Clarkson, could go a long way toward addressing that issue. Brogdon also brings a defensive steadiness that could allow him to play alongside Brunson.
Brogdon, for his part, is aware of the potential benefit he could bring in such minutes.
“Anything that can take pressure off Jalen is the big goal going forward with this team,” he said. “That’s what I want to do this year: Take pressure off him on both sides of the ball — and everybody else.”
Brogdon elaborated on this topic, and how he sees himself in the context of the team, writes Dan Martin for the New York Post.
“This is a roster that in the past has been in need of more ball-handlers and more creators, more versatile players that can handle the ball,” Brogdon said. “I think I bring that. I can help guard. I’m a Swiss Army knife in a lot of ways and have a lot of strengths.”
Brogdon also believes that his experience in the recent phase of his career, as he’s become a bit more of a journeyman, can help him seamlessly integrate into new coach Mike Brown‘s system.
“The last three years I’ve had three different systems, different playing styles and different coaches,” Brogdon said. “I do think that gives me an edge on other new guys coming here, being able to adjust fast. I think that’s what this league is all about: Who can adjust fastest.”
Brogdon added that he’d been talking to the Knicks for a while before signing an Exhibit 9 deal with them.
“I was really set on being on the Knicks,” he said.
Kings Waive Jameer Nelson Jr., Jaylin Williams
The Kings have waived Jameer Nelson Jr. and Jaylin Williams, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
Both Nelson and Williams split much of last season between the G League and the Canadian Elite Basketball League. Nelson appeared in 23 games for the Calgary Surge and averaged 20.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game while making 35.5% of his three-point attempts, while Williams played 19 games for the Winnipeg Sea Bears, averaging 9.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.1 APG.
The Kings signed the two free agents to Exhibit 10 deals on Friday. Both players will be eligible to receive bonuses of up to $85,300 if they sign G League contracts and spend at least 60 days with the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate.
Lakers Waive Kylor Kelley
The Lakers have waived center Kylor Kelley, according to the NBA’s official transaction log.
Kelley signed an Exhibit 10 contract in August and has previous experience with the Lakers, as he was signed and waived by Los Angeles heading into the 2024/25 season as well, then spent much of the year with the Lakers’ G League affiliate.
Kelley has appeared in 11 NBA games, eight with the Mavericks and three with the Pelicans. He holds career averages of 3.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game.
Kelley averaged 11.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game for the South Bay Lakers last season. He will now be eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he reports back to the G League and stays in South Bay for at least 60 days.
Magic Notes: Banchero, Suggs, Richardson, Two-Way
Paolo Banchero knows that expectations for the Magic have risen dramatically this offseason, and he’s ready to embrace the challenge of meeting them, writes Josh Robbins for The Athletic (subscriber link).
“I think, just as a competitor, as a winner, as a player, you want to be expected to be great,” Banchero said.
Robbins writes that Banchero was stunned by the Magic’s trade for Desmond Bane, which sent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, and four first-round picks to the Grizzlies, but quickly grew excited about the prospect of teaming up with the sweet-shooting guard.
“I felt like there were some guys that were kind of up on the list of who we would maybe trade for, at least in my head, and Desmond Bane was not one of them,” Banchero said. “So when I heard that one, I was like, ‘Desmond Bane!’ I was like, ‘S–t, he’s a hell of a player.'”
Banchero spoke about the impact that Bane, as well as Tyus Jones, who signed with the team on a one-year deal, should have this year.
“I think it’s going to do a lot of great things, not only on the court but off the court, just with the way they are as people and how they’re able to kind of control a room,” he said. “They talk with so much experience that you listen to them. Both of them offensively are just really experienced players, and they just know how to play. They have great feels for the game, feels for the court, when to make plays, when to shoot, when to drive.”
We have more from the Magic:
- Jalen Suggs is working hard to get back from the arthroscopic knee surgery that ended his season in March, but his updates remain cryptic, writes Jason Beede for the Orlando Sentinel. “This is definitely the hardest summer that I’ve had so far,” he said last week in a podcast appearance. “The knee is coming along but I’m just really getting to work on minute muscles and really detailed parts about my body that just have been overlooked up to this point. So it’s been great. Camp and the return will come in time, in [God’s] time, but our process is really working and I love the spot that we’re in right now.” Beede notes that a more concrete update on his timeline, as well as that of Moritz Wagner, who is recovering from an ACL tear, should come tomorrow.
- In the same article, Beede writes that the Magic’s bench will look dramatically different with the departures of Anthony, Gary Harris, Cory Joseph, and Caleb Houstan, but adds that internal development for Anthony Black, Jett Howard, and Tristan Da Silva should help boost the unit around Jones’ floor generalship. Beede also suggests that, given head coach Jamahl Mosley‘s preference to keep his rotations intact, if Suggs misses the start of the season, it could open a pathway for rookie Jase Richardson to start. While Black and Jones are capable of stepping up, Beede observes that in the past, Mosley has often looked to the third-string players in such situations.
- The Magic currently have Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson on two-way contracts, with plenty of options for the third slot. Among the most likely candidates, Beede lists Reece Beekman, Colin Castleton, Justin Minaya, Lester Quinones, and Alex Morales, all of whom are currently on Exhibit 10 deals with the team. Beede notes that Castleton and Morales both have experience with the franchise, as both spent time with the G League affiliate in Osceola — Morales for three seasons and Castleton for part of last year.
Heat GM Andy Elisburg Opens Up About Health Scare
When the Heat selected Kasparas Jakucionis with the 20th overall pick in the 2025 draft, it was anything but business as usual for general manager Andy Elisburg, writes Ira Winderman for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Elisburg made the call with the team’s official selection, as he has for years. However, this time, he was doing it from what Winderman describes as a high-tech wheelchair, due to an infection that had sapped him of his ability to do much of anything over the previous months.
“When I was done giving the pick, I was able to reach over and hang up the phone,” Elisburg says. “And the people in the back, all the therapists, and all the doctors were so excited, ‘He’s using his core! He’s using his core!’ Because, for me, I hadn’t had the ability.”
Winderman writes that the infection began late in the 2024/25 season. Elisburg had started feeling more exhausted than usual, but it wasn’t until he woke up one day following the season’s end with a left leg that wouldn’t work that he began to really worry.
“I was a whole lot sicker than I realized I was,” he said. “That’s where they discovered I had an infection throughout my body — in my knee, in my back. My kidney numbers, my liver numbers, everything was up and elevated. There were people who were not quite sure I was going to come out of that.”
With his kidneys at near dialysis levels, a partial amputation of Elisburg’s foot was required, as well as a handful of other surgeries over the following days, some of which strained his ability to keep his focus on his recovery, instead of the team.
“One of my procedures was happening the day of the lottery and got delayed and kept being delayed. And so it wound up happening during the lottery,” he said. “So I get out of the operating room, I get to the recovery room that I’m awake, alert enough to bring my friends in to see me, and my first question is, ‘So who won the lottery?’”
The surgeries were followed by grueling rehab sessions, which he is still undergoing, and which have recently yielded the ability to take steps through the use of parallel bars. Through it all, though, Elisburg has never lost his keen eye and hunger to solve whatever pressing needs the team might have.
“It was hard for me to sit in a hospital bed and sleep or watch TV. And after a while, I said, ‘I’ve got to get something going.’ I started making some phone calls, started talking about the draft and trades and things of that nature,” said Elisburg. “When I would talk to (Heat president) Pat (Riley) and (CEO) Nick (Arison), I’d say, ‘Hey, I’ve got some information.’ Initially, it was, ‘You worry about you.’ I was like, ‘I need to do this. I need something to get my mind going.’ And it went to now we started to have regularly scheduled meetings.”
Elisburg is now back in his office, trying to get back into the full swing of the job. He says he’s doing around 80% of his usual September workload. While the team leadership has constantly stressed the need to take care of himself first and foremost, the longtime Heat GM is just grateful that he’s on the road to recovery and can still do what he does best professionally.
“I’m looking forward to the season and lucky that I do something that I have such a passion for and still am able to do it,” he said.
Timberwolves Sign Jules Bernard, Zyon Pullin
The Timberwolves have signed Jules Bernard and Zyon Pullin, the team announced today. The terms of the deals were not reported, but they are expected to be non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contracts.
Bernard, a 6’7″ guard out of UCLA, played 19 games for the Wizards during the 2023/24 season after going undrafted in 2022. He averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 rebounds per game for Washington. Last year, he played for the Cleveland Charge in the G League and averaged 19.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per contest.
Pullin, an undrafted guard from the 2024 class, played a total of three minutes in three games for the Grizzlies last season, but had a successful season in the G League, averaging 20.9 PPG, 6.1 APG, and 5.5 RPG for the Sioux Falls Skyforce and Memphis Hustle.
Pullin signed a two-way contract with the Grizzlies and finished the season with the team, but was waived in July to make room for PJ Hall to sign a two-way deal.
If Bernard and Pullin are waived before the season starts, these deals will allow them to earn a bonus of up to $85,300, provided they sign G League contracts and stay with the Iowa Wolves for at least 60 days.
The two signings are accompanied by the previously reported training camp deal for Alize Johnson, which is also now official.
Clippers Sign Telfort, Poulakidas To Exhibit 10s
September 27: The Clippers’ training camp deals with Telford and Poulakidas are now official, according to Paul Garcia of The Spot Up Shot (Twitter link).
June 27: The Clippers have agreed to a deal with Butler guard Jahmyl Telfort, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reports (Twitter link).
Law Murray of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that Telfort, along with Yale shooting guard John Poulakidas, will be on the Clippers’ Summer League roster, with both undrafted rookies likely to sign Exhibit 10 contracts.
After testing the waters during the 2024 draft process, the 6’7″ Telfort returned to school as a super-senior and averaged 16 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting a college career-high 36.1% on three-point attempts. He reportedly had a strong Portsmouth Invitational Tournament as part of his pre-draft process.
Poulakidas is a 6’5″ senior who shot over 40% from three on 604 attempts throughout his college career. He averaged 19.4 points per game for the Bulldogs this season.
Kings Sign Jameer Nelson Jr., Jaylin Williams
The Kings have signed guard Jameer Nelson Jr. and forward Jaylin Williams to Exhibit 10 training camp deals, reports Paul Garcia of The Spot Up Shot (via Twitter).
Nelson, the son of former NBA guard Jameer Nelson, played five years in college, his final year for TCU, where he averaged 11.2 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.1 steals per game before going undrafted in 2024. Last year, he played for the Austin Spurs, with whom he averaged 11.3 PPG and 2.3 APG, then joined the Calgary Surge of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, putting up 20.1 PPG and 4.2 APG for the Albertan squad.
Williams, a 25-year-old forward out of Auburn (ie. not the Thunder big man out of Arkansas), played for the Grand Rapids Gold last year, averaging 8.6 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 19.0 MPG. He played three games for the Mavericks’ 2025/26 Summer League team, averaging 3.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in 17.0 minutes per contest.
If they’re waived before the season, Nelson and Williams will each be eligible to receive a bonus of up to $83,500, provided they spend at least 60 days with Sacramento’s G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings.
Stockton acquired Nelson’s returning player rights from Austin in a NBAGL trade earlier this week, as James Ham of The Kings Beat relays (via Twitter).