International Notes: Dowtin, A. Traore, S. Johnson, Vucevic
After spending the 2024/25 season on a two-way contract with the 76ers, free agent guard Jeff Dowtin is drawing interest from a handful of teams in Europe, Dario Skerletic of Sportando writes, citing a report from Tomer Givati of Israel Hayom.
According to Givati, Dowtin is engaged in talks with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, and Fenerbahce, with Maccabi believed to be the favorite to sign him at this point.
Dowtin, 28, has four years of NBA experience, having appeared in games for five separate teams since entering the league in 2021. The 2024/25 season was his best, as he posted averaged of 7.0 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game across 41 outings, with a solid shooting line of .487/.400/.733.
Dowtin is no longer eligible for a two-way deal, so there may not be a clear path to an NBA roster spot this fall, making a move overseas a more appealing option.
Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:
- Former Lakers two-way player Armel Traore has signed a two-year contract with ASVEL, the French club announced today (via Twitter). The 6’9″ forward caught on with the Lakers after going undrafted in 2024 and appeared in eight games for the NBA club last season before being waived in February.
- Veteran forward Stanley Johnson, the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft, will continue his career in Japan, having signed with Nagasaki Velca for the 2025/26 season, according to an announcement from the club (hat tip to Sportando). Johnson, 29, appeared in 449 regular season games for five NBA teams from 2015-23, but has spent the past two seasons in the G League and with Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
- A handful of EuroLeague teams are keeping an eye on Bulls center Nikola Vucevic, per a report from SportKlub, relayed by Sportando. Jake Fischer recently speculated in a Bleacher Report stream that a mid-season buyout may be a more likely outcome for Vucevic than a trade. However, the 34-year-old remains extremely productive – he averaged 18.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game with a .530/.402/.805 shooting line last season – and there has been absolutely no indication a buyout will materialize anytime soon. Even in the event of a buyout, Vucevic would presumably have no shortage of NBA offers.
Execs Weigh In On Quentin Grimes’ Value
Having polled 16 front office sources around the NBA about what “fair” contracts for restricted free agents Jonathan Kuminga and Josh Giddey would look like, Fred Katz of The Athletic did the same for Quentin Grimes of the Sixers, another RFA who has been in a standoff with his team for the last several weeks.
According to Katz, 13 of the 16 respondents to his poll suggested annual salaries between $12MM and $16.7MM per year from Grimes, with one projection coming in lower ($10MM) and two going slightly higher (one $18MM and one $18.8MM). Eleven of the sources polled suggested a three-year deal for the 25-year-old, with four indicating they’d do four years and just one saying he’d do only two seasons.
The executive who was lowest on Grimes explained that he’d only be comfortable with $30MM over three years because he wasn’t swayed by the guard’s second-half scoring outburst for a banged-up Sixers team that was essentially in tanking mode.
Another exec, who said he’d do a three-year, $40MM contract, argued that it was hard to pay big-time money for a player like Grimes when a veteran with a similar skill set like Gary Trent Jr. signed for the minimum (Trent actually signed for a little more than the minimum, though the point stands).
Other participants in the poll were higher on Grimes, including one who expressed a level of comfort with a four-year, $75MM investment.
“There are not many Swiss Army knife wings out there that score it as efficiently, defend, pass or rebound like he does,” that staffer said. “He might not be elite at any one thing, but (he’s) very good at a lot of them.”
A number of respondents suggested a deal in the range of the mid-level, with one observing that something in the same “ballpark” as what Caris LeVert (two years, $28.9MM) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (four years, $60.6MM) got in terms of annual average value would make sense for Grimes.
“I like Quentin Grimes. He’s a very good player,” another exec said. “I would present him with two options: You can have a three-year, $48 million deal or a four-year, $60 million. … You say to him, ‘Do you want money or do you want longevity?’ And if he says both, you say, ‘We can’t offer both.'”
As we noted when we passed along the results of Katz’s polls on Kuminga and Giddey, these responses come with an important caveat — rival team executives, who will have their own contract negotiations to deal with going forward and don’t want the market to be set too high for their own guys, are more likely to take a conservative view when asked to project a player’s contract. The responses in a poll of 16 agents would almost certainly come in higher.
Still, with no indication that a rival suitor is positioning itself to make an aggressive play for Grimes, the Sixers have a good deal of leverage in the negotiations and will be motivated to keep the guard’s first-year salary at a manageable number. Philadelphia is currently operating a little below the luxury tax line and has roughly $21.7MM in wiggle room below the second tax apron, so bringing in Grimes for a lower number would help keep the club’s projected tax penalty in check and would open up more room for the front office to maneuver in apron territory.
Southeast Notes: D. Smith, Heat, Wizards, Djurisic
While Dru Smith had been considered the favorite to claim the Heat‘s final two-way slot, that can’t actually happen, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, since a CBA rule prohibits a player from being on a two-way contract with the same team for four seasons.
Smith hasn’t spent the entirety of the past three years on two-way deals with Miami, but he has been on a two-way contract for at least part of each of the past three seasons since 2022/23, making him ineligible to do so again in ’25/26.
The Heat did tender Smith a qualifying offer in June, but that offer is for a one-year, minimum-salary contract with a small partial guarantee (approximately $102K), rather than another two-way deal. Miami has just 14 players on standard contracts for now, so Smith could be the club’s 15th man, but team salary is already over the luxury tax threshold, so it’s unclear whether or not the front office plans to carry a full 15-man roster into the regular season.
Meanwhile, there’s still a two-way spot open on the Heat’s roster alongside Vladislav Goldin and Myron Gardner.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- It hasn’t been an especially eventful offseason for the Heat — they’ve made modest additions like Norman Powell, Kasparas Jakucionis, and Simone Fontecchio, but will bring back a roster pretty similar to last year’s group. With that in mind, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel suggests that internal improvement represents Miami’s best hope of taking a step forward and identifies Andrew Wiggins, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Terry Rozier, and Nikola Jovic as a few of the top candidates to give the team more in 2025/26 than they did in ’24/25.
- Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum are the only two players on the Wizards‘ roster who are older than 26 or earning more than $14MM in 2025/26, according to Varun Shankar of The Washington Post, who says the front office views the two veterans as positive influences and potential role models for the team’s younger players. Acquiring Middleton and McCollum also put Washington in position to create significant 2026 cap room, since both players are on expiring deals.
- Nikola Djurisic, a 2024 second-round pick who signed his first NBA contract earlier this month with the Hawks, was left off Serbia’s roster for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament. As Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com relays (via Twitter), Serbian head coach Svetislav Pesic referred to the 21-year-old forward as part of “the future of Serbian basketball” in explaining that decision. “There was a thought to include him (on the roster) as well, but we have a lot of experienced players in that position,” Pesic said. “Let him take a break from everything now. He spent a whole year in America.”
Clippers Waive Patrick Baldwin Jr.
As expected, the Clippers have waived forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., according to the NBA’s official transaction log.
A report over the weekend indicated that Baldwin would be waived to open up a two-way contract slot for Jordan Miller. That report, from Law Murray of The Athletic, noted that the Clippers would have interest in bringing back Baldwin on an Exhibit 10 contract if he clears waivers.
The 28th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Baldwin played limited minutes as a rookie in Golden State before being sent to Washington in the Jordan Poole/Chris Paul trade during the summer of 2023. He also played a limited role in D.C. across a season-and-a-half until he was dealt to the Spurs at the 2025 trade deadline. San Antonio waived the 22-year-old shortly after acquiring him and he finished last season on a two-way contract with L.A.
In 93 total NBA outings, Baldwin has averaged 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.9 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .405/.373/.658. The 6’9″ forward has played more of a featured role in the G League, including in 2024/25, when he put up 17.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG on .489/.364/.594 shooting in 23 games for the Capital City Go-Go and San Diego Clippers. He also filled up the box score with 2.4 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.3 steals per contest.
Baldwin still has one more year of two-way eligibility remaining.
The Clippers, meanwhile, can now officially move forward on their new two-way agreement with Miller, who will join Kobe Sanders and Trentyn Flowers as the team’s two-way players.
Tracy McGrady Joining NBC As NBA Analyst
NBC Sports is adding another Hall of Famer to its NBA coverage for the 2025/26 season, announcing in a press release that Tracy McGrady has joined the network as a studio analyst.
McGrady, a former NBA star who made seven consecutive All-Star teams from 2001-07 and twice led the league in scoring, has prior broadcasting experience, having worked as an analyst for both ESPN and TNT Sports after his retirement as a player.
McGrady will be joining an NBC studio team that also includes his cousin Vince Carter, as well as former NBA star Carmelo Anthony. Maria Taylor and Ahmed Fareed will serve as the studio hosts for NBC’s NBA coverage, while Michael Jordan will be a special contributor to the network’s coverage.
“Tracy has performed at the highest level both on and off the court and has already demonstrated his ability to deliver his unique perspective on air,” NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood said in a statement. “Whether paired with Carmelo, Vince, or both, we’re excited to see how this team of Hall of Famers comes together and breaks down the game.”
The hiring of McGrady is the second major announcement by NBC within the last week. The network also revealed a series of new hires last Thursday, including Derek Fisher, Austin Rivers, Brad Daugherty, Robbie Hummel, and Brian Scalabrine as game analysts.
NBA Players Who Can Veto Trades In 2025/26
No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, since a player must meet a specific set of criteria in order to qualify for one. And even those players who become eligible may not have the leverage to demand a no-trade clause, which significantly limits a team’s flexibility in future trade negotiations.
To be eligible to negotiate a no-trade clause, a player must have at least eight years of NBA experience and has to have spent at least four years (not necessarily the most recent four years) with his current team. He also must be signing a free agent contract, rather than an extension.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: No-Trade Clause]
For the second consecutive season, multiple players will have no-trade clauses in their contracts during the 2025/26 league year. In addition to LeBron James, who got his no-trade clause when he signed his current contract in 2024, Damian Lillard negotiated a no-trade clause into his new deal with the Trail Blazers.
A year ago, it was James and Bradley Beal who had no-trade clauses, but Beal gave his up when he agreed to a buyout with the Suns this offseason.
Prior to 2024/25, the last time more than one player had an actual no-trade clause in his contract was in ’17/18, when three players – James (as a Cavalier), Dirk Nowitzki, and Carmelo Anthony – had them.
Although James and Lillard are the only players who have explicit no-trade clauses in their current deals, there are several others who will have implicit no-trade clauses in 2025/26, giving them the ability to veto trades during the current league year.
A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year deal with an option year – is given no-trade protection, unless he agrees to give up that protection when he inks his deal. That group doesn’t include players on two-way contracts, but it does include players who accept standard (non two-way) one-year qualifying offers.
A player who signs an offer sheet and then has that offer matched by his previous team also has the ability to veto a trade for a full calendar year.
With those criteria in mind, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the ’25/26 league year:
Players with a no-trade clause:
- LeBron James (Lakers)
- Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers)
Players whose offer sheets were matched:
- None
Players who re-signed for one year (or two years, with a second-year player/team option):
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Nicolas Batum (Clippers)
- Collin Gillespie (Suns)
- Quentin Grimes (Sixers)
- James Harden (Clippers): Traded
- Aaron Holiday (Rockets)
- Joe Ingles (Timberwolves)
- Kyle Lowry (Sixers)
- Gary Payton II (Warriors)
- Landry Shamet (Knicks)
- Jericho Sims (Bucks)
- Jae’Sean Tate (Rockets)
- Cam Thomas (Nets)
- Fred VanVleet (Rockets)
- Moritz Wagner (Magic)
If any player who re-signed for one year approves a trade during the 2025/26 league year, he’ll have Non-Bird rights at season’s end instead of Early Bird or full Bird rights.
Any player who approves a trade will retain his veto ability on his new team, and would have to consent to any subsequent deal during the 2025/26 season.
The following players were re-signed to one-year contracts (or two-year deals with an option year), but have agreed to forfeit their right to veto a trade in 2025/26:
- Bismack Biyombo (Spurs)
- Terence Davis (Kings)
- Dante Exum (Mavericks)
- Anthony Gill (Wizards)
- Eric Gordon (Sixers)
- Jeff Green (Rockets)
- Jaxson Hayes (Lakers)
- Bones Hyland (Timberwolves)
- Jonathan Kuminga (Warriors)
- Doug McDermott (Kings)
- Jordan McLaughlin (Spurs)
- Kevin Porter Jr. (Bucks)
- Taurean Prince (Bucks)
- Day’Ron Sharpe (Nets)
- Garrett Temple (Raptors)
- Gary Trent Jr. (Bucks)
- Ziaire Williams (Nets)
Giving up the right to veto a trade was introduced as an option in the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Latest On Luka Doncic
Lakers star Luka Doncic, who has faced criticism over the years for his conditioning, weight, and workout habits, is on the cover of the latest issue of Men’s Health and is the subject of a handful of feature stories from the magazine as a result of the work he has put in this offseason.
In addition to their cover story on Doncic, Men’s Health published separate articles about the star guard’s intense summer training regimen and the gluten-free, low-sugar diet he has been on since the Lakers’ season ended.
As Andrew Heffernan and Ebenezer Samuel of Men’s Health detail, Doncic let manager Lara Beth Seager know the day after Los Angeles was eliminated from the playoffs that he wanted to dedicate this offseason to improving his body and his conditioning — and that he wanted to start that work immediately.
“Every summer I try my best to work on different things,” said Doncic, who took a month off from any basketball activities after the season as he focused on his training. “Obviously, I’m very competitive. This summer was just a little bit different, you know. It kind of motivated me to be even better.”
As Dan Woike of The Athletic observes, Doncic began working with trainer Anže Maček and physiotherapist Javier Barrio back in 2023, so the idea of embarking upon a stricter workout program didn’t materialize overnight — some sources in the 26-year-old’s inner circle believe he would’ve taken this path toward a physical transformation even if he was still in Dallas, according to Woike.
But calf issues last season set Doncic back, and the fact that the Mavericks cited his conditioning and work habits after making the shocking decision to trade him in February provided some extra fuel as he began his new training program this spring. The photos shared by Men’s Health show a more toned, slimmed-down version of the five-time All-Star.
“Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,” Doncic acknowledged.
After spending much of the offseason in Europe, Doncic is back in the United States this week doing promotional work for Jordan Brand. According to Woike, Doncic is headed to Chicago and then to Los Angeles after making multiple appearances in New York City.
It’s likely not a coincidence, Woike writes, that Doncic’s stop in L.A. will line up with August 2, the day the restrictions on his contract extension eligibility lift.
While there has long been a sense that Doncic would likely sign some form of extension with the Lakers this offseason, there was speculation that it might happen later in the year, once his obligations to the Slovenian national team had wrapped up. But it now looks like there will be an opening for a deal to get done as soon as this weekend, before he heads back overseas for EuroBasket.
As he gears up for this year’s EuroBasket tournament and the coming NBA season, Doncic made it clear that he intends to keep up his new regimen, since he doesn’t work his work this offseason to “all (be) for nothing.”
“This year, with my team, I think we did a huge step,” he said. “But this is just the start, you know. I need to keep going. Can’t stop.”
Eastern Notes: Peter, Krejci, Pistons, Sixers
Taelon Peter‘s two-way contract with the Pacers will cover two seasons, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks at Sports Business Classroom. Peter, the 54th overall pick in this year’s draft, is the fourth 2025 second-rounder to a sign a two-year, two-way contract, joining Rocco Zikarsky (Timberwolves), Javon Small (Grizzlies), and Kobe Sanders (Clippers).
Peter’s two-way deal includes a $85,300 partial guarantee for now, but half of his full $636,435 salary will become guaranteed if he remains under contract through the start of the regular season, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Hawks guard Vit Krejci is the lone active NBA player named to the preliminary Czech roster for this year’s EuroBasket tournament, notes Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com (Twitter link). Veteran guard Tomas Satoransky, who appeared in 388 NBA games from 2016-22, is among the other notable names representing the Czechs.
- With oddsmakers considering the Pistons the betting favorites to land Cam Thomas if he leaves Brooklyn, Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press explores the possibility of the restricted free agent guard landing in Detroit but expresses skepticism it will happen. As Sankofa notes, Thomas isn’t an obvious fit on a roster that already features multiple ball-dominant guards (Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey) and likely “doesn’t check enough boxes to justify the expense.” Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (YouTube link) also recently checked in on the Pistons as a possible suitor for Thomas and found nothing doing.
- In a mailbag for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Keith Pompey fields questions on Joel Embiid‘s and Paul George‘s trade value, why Guerschon Yabusele wasn’t moved in February if the Sixers were going to let him walk, and what the club’s backcourt rotation might look like. Pompey expects Quentin Grimes, assuming he re-signs, to start alongside Tyrese Maxey, with Kelly Oubre at small forward and Jared McCain and VJ Edgecombe coming off the bench.
Lawson Lovering, Grizzlies Agree To Exhibit 10 Deal
Rookie free agent center Lawson Lovering has agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Grizzlies after suiting up for the team during the Salt Lake City and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, reports Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link).
Lovering, who went undrafted in June, spent the past two seasons at the University of Utah after starting his college career at Colorado from 2021-23. As a senior in 2024/25, he started all 28 games he played for the Utes, averaging 8.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in 23.8 minutes per game.
The seven-footer appeared in a total of seven games for the Grizzlies’ Summer League team in SLC and Vegas, averaging 3.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 12.9 MPG while making 62.5% of his field goal attempts.
Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals prior to the NBA regular season. A player who signs an Exhibit 10 contract also becomes eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate, so Lovering could end up joining the Memphis Hustle this fall.
2025/26 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team
As the NBA regular season approaches and teams reduce their rosters from the 21-player offseason limit to the 15-man regular season max, the best way to determine which players will survive preseason cuts is to consider their contracts. Players with guaranteed salaries for 2025/26 are far more likely to earn spots on 15-man rosters than players whose contracts aren’t fully guaranteed.
Keeping that in mind, we’re using the space below to keep tabs on the players on each NBA team who don’t have fully guaranteed contracts. The players listed here have non-guaranteed salaries, partially guaranteed salaries, or Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts, which essentially function like non-guaranteed deals.
Unless otherwise noted, these players are on minimum-salary contracts. Some players on this list have partial guarantees, which we’ve also mentioned below.
Not all of these players will be waived before the regular season begins, so we’ll maintain this list for the next several months, up until January 10, 2026. That’s the day that all players still under contract will have their salaries fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2025/26 season.
[RELATED: Early NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For 2025/26]
Only players who have formally signed contracts are listed below, so if a player has reportedly reached an agreement with a team on a non-guaranteed deal, we’ll add him to our list when that deal becomes official and we confirm the details.
Without further ado, here’s the full list of players without fully guaranteed salaries for 2025/26, broken down by team:
Updated 1-10-26 (6:17 am CT)
Atlanta Hawks
- None
Boston Celtics
- None
Brooklyn Nets
- None
Charlotte Hornets
- None
Chicago Bulls
- None
Cleveland Cavaliers
- None
Dallas Mavericks
- None
Denver Nuggets
- None
Detroit Pistons
- None
Golden State Warriors
- None
Houston Rockets
- None
Indiana Pacers
- None
Los Angeles Clippers
- None
Los Angeles Lakers
- None
Memphis Grizzlies
- None
Miami Heat
- None
Milwaukee Bucks
- None
Minnesota Timberwolves
- None
New Orleans Pelicans
- None
New York Knicks
- None
Oklahoma City Thunder
- None
Orlando Magic
- None
Philadelphia 76ers
- None
Phoenix Suns
- None
Portland Trail Blazers
- None
Sacramento Kings
- None
San Antonio Spurs
- None
Toronto Raptors
- None
Utah Jazz
- None
Washington Wizards
- None