Which Potential 2025 RFAs Will Actually Receive Qualifying Offers?
Within our list of 2025 free agents, there are currently 14 players in the "restricted free agents" section. However, not all of these players will actually become restricted free agents this offseason.
In order to make those players restricted free agents, their teams must issue them a qualifying offer, which is essentially a one-year contract offer that gives the club the right of first refusal in the event the player wants to sign with another team.
In some cases, that qualifying offer is a mere formality. There was a never a scenario in which the Sixers didn't extend a QO to Tyrese Maxey last offseason, for instance. But if the player's club decides not to issue that QO, he becomes an unrestricted free agent, able to freely sign anywhere.
Even if a team wants to retain a certain free agent, it might not make sense to tender him a qualifying offer if the club isn't comfortable with the idea of him actually accepting that offer due to the cost of the QO or the club's overall cap situation.
Last summer, New York opted not to issue a QO worth approximately $6.28MM to Precious Achiuwa, even though the team hoped to keep him. The Knicks were able to eventually re-sign Achiuwa to a one-year, $6MM deal after gaining a clearer understanding of their salary cap situation in free agency.
Of course, in other cases, a team that doesn't issue a qualifying offer to its potential restricted free agent is simply fine with the idea of losing that player. The Pistons passed on a $7.74MM QO for James Wiseman last offseason, then watched him sign a minimum-salary contract with Indiana as an unrestricted free agent.
In total, just 11 of 27 players on standard contracts (ie. non two-way deals) who were eligible to receive qualifying offers last June got them from their respective teams. A similar process could play out this time around.
Here's an early look at which potential restricted free agents are good bets to get their qualifying offers and which ones might end up as unrestricted FAs:
Warriors Sign Kevin Knox For Rest Of Season
March 23: Knox’s new deal with the Warriors is official, the team confirmed in a press release.
March 22: The Warriors intend to sign forward Kevin Knox to a rest-of-season contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Knox has already signed a pair of 10-day deals with Golden State this season, so in order to bring him back, the team had to make at least a rest-of-season commitment, since players aren’t permitted to sign three 10-day contracts with a club in the same year.
During his first 20 days with Golden State, the former No. 9 overall pick appeared in seven games off the bench, averaging 4.0 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.3 minutes per night, with a .458/.273/.750 shooting line in a small sample size.
Knox, who has made 313 total regular season appearances since 2018 for the Knicks, Hawks, Pistons, Trail Blazers, and Warriors, has spent most of the 2024/25 campaign playing for Golden State’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. In a total of 28 NBAGL outings, the 6’8″ forward has contributed 21.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 32.6 minutes per game on .495/.389/.759 shooting.
As we outlined last weekend, the Warriors were fast approaching their deadline to re-add a 14th man to their standard roster. Teams are permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks at a time and for up to 28 days in total during a season — Golden State is right up against that 28-day limit.
Assuming it’s officially finalized on Saturday, Knox’s contract will pay him $345,412 for the rest of the season. Charania’s report suggests it’s just a one-year deal, in which case the Warriors figure to carry a cap hit of $275,936. If they were to tack on another year, that cap charge for 2024/25 would increase to $345,412, Knox’s actual salary.
The Warriors will still have an open spot on their 15-man roster after signing Knox and should narrowly have enough breathing room below their hard cap to add a 15th man anytime, assuming his contract just covers the rest of the season.
Bulls’ Tre Jones Out For At Least Two Weeks
The Bulls have ruled out point guard Tre Jones for at least two weeks after confirming his diagnosis of a left foot sprain, the team announced in a press release.
Jones sustained the injury during Thursday’s win over Sacramento and underwent X-rays, which were negative. There’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to return at the two-week mark, but he’ll be reevaluated at that time, with further updates to come, according to the Bulls.
Jones, who spent the first four years of his NBA career in San Antonio, saw his role decline at the start of his fifth season following the arrival of Chris Paul. He averaged just 16.1 minutes per night, his lowest mark since his rookie year, in 28 appearances for the Spurs before being dealt to Chicago in the three-team De’Aaron Fox/Zach LaVine blockbuster last month.
Despite joining a crowded backcourt in Chicago, Jones has emerged as a key rotation player, averaging 11.5 points, 4.9 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 25.3 minutes per game across his first 18 appearances (nine starts) as a Bull. He’s making a career-high 57.2% field goal attempts, including 50.0% of his three-pointers, since being traded.
Head coach Billy Donovan has repeatedly lauded Jones in recent weeks for his high basketball IQ and his knack for making winning plays.
With Jones and Lonzo Ball (wrist sprain) currently sidelined and Ayo Dosunmu (shoulder surgery) out for the rest of the season, the Bulls figure to lean more heavily on Josh Giddey and Coby White in their backcourt, with Jevon Carter a candidate to enter the rotation.
Hoops Rumors’ 2025 NBA 10-Day Contract Tracker
Since January 5, when NBA teams became eligible to sign players to standard 10-day deals, 41 of the contracts signed have been of the 10-day variety, and that number will only continue to grow as the season nears an end. Hoops Rumors has a database that allows you to keep on top of those deals, tracking every 10-day signing all season long.
Besides featuring all of this year’s 10-day deals, our 10-Day Contract Tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed since the 2006/07 season. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player, and/or year.
For instance, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts that the Sixers have signed since 2007, including Oshae Brissett‘s current deal, you can do so here. If you want to view Brissett’s history of 10-day deals, that list is here.
You can also see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract or if those short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season. Additionally, our tracker notes which 10-day deals remain active, saving you the hassle of having to figure out whether a particular contract ends on Wednesday or Thursday.
A link to our 10-Day Contract Tracker can be found at any time in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site. On our mobile site, you can find it on our “Features” page. We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.
As our tracker shows, these are the 10-day deals currently active around the NBA:
- Indiana Pacers: Tony Bradley, C (runs through 3/22)
- Philadelphia 76ers: Oshae Brissett, F (runs through 3/23)
- Philadelphia 76ers: Chuma Okeke, F (runs through 3/25)
- Toronto Raptors: Colin Castleton, C (runs through 3/25)
- Sacramento Kings: Terry Taylor, F (runs through 3/27)
- New York Knicks: P.J. Tucker, F (runs through 3/29)
- New Orleans Pelicans: Elfrid Payton, G (runs through 3/30)
Anthony Davis Could Return During Mavs’ Upcoming Road Trip
There’s increasing optimism that Mavericks big man Anthony Davis will have a chance to return to action during the team’s upcoming four-game road trip, reports NBA insider Marc Stein (Substack link).
Davis, who has been sidelined by an adductor strain since his Mavs debut on February 8, practiced with the Texas Legends in the G League multiple times this week and got through those sessions without experiencing any setbacks. As Stein relays, head coach Jason Kidd said last night that it was a “positive day” on Friday for Davis and fellow injured big men Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford, who also practiced with the Legends.
While Kidd said there’s “no timetable” for any of them to return, he expressed hope about having all three centers back this season, and Stein suggests Davis is the furthest along of the three in his recovery process. He has advanced to 5-on-5 play, while Lively and Gafford have reportedly only done 3-on-3 work.
The Mavericks’ four-game Eastern Conference swing will begin on Monday in Brooklyn and also includes stops in New York (Tuesday), Orlando (Thursday), and Chicago (next Saturday). Stein, who previously reported that Davis is “very eager” to resume playing, suggests it’s possible we could see him in one or more of those games.
There had been speculation following Davis’ adductor injury that the Mavericks may simply shut him down for the rest of the season and focus on 2025/26, especially after Kyrie Irving suffered a torn ACL. However, there was never any indication from Dallas that the team was seriously considering that route, especially with a postseason berth still within reach.
Although they sit at No. 11 in the Western Conference right now, the Mavericks are tied with the No. 10 Suns at 34-37 and are just two games back of the No. 9 Kings (35-34). Even without Irving, an otherwise healthy version of this Mavs team could cause problems for opponents in the postseason, and making or missing the play-in tournament is unlikely to significantly impact their draft position.
Celtics’ Grousbeck Talks Tax Aprons, Sale, Chisholm, Arena
Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck has agreed to sell his controlling stake in the franchise, but the plan is for Grousbeck to remain in his current position with the team through the 2027/28 season, collaborating with William Chisholm and his investors as the defending champions transition to a new ownership group.
A major part of that transition will involve determining how long to maintain one of the NBA’s highest payrolls. The Celtics are operating over the second tax apron, restricting their ability to make certain roster moves and ensuring that their 2032 draft pick will become “frozen” this offseason, making it ineligible to be traded.
According to Grousbeck, those roster-related restrictions imposed on teams operating above the second apron are of greater concern than the prospect of repeatedly pay substantial luxury tax bills.
“It’s not the luxury tax bill, it’s the basketball penalties,” Grousbeck said during a WEEI appearance when asked about the Celtics’ ability to remain well above the tax line (story via Brian Robb of MassLive.com). “The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy. They decided that it’s not good enough to go after the wallets because the fans can be like, ‘Hey find someone who can afford to spend $500 million dollars a year or whatever it is, like the English Premier League. I know seven guys who own Premier League teams in England with no spending caps and most of them don’t know what the hell is going on.”
“The basketball penalties mean that it’s even more of a premium now to have your basketball general manager be brilliant and lucky,” Grousbeck continued. “Because you have to navigate because you can’t stay in the second apron, nobody will, I predict, for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one is going to stay in the second apron more than two years.”
This is the second consecutive season the Celtics have been in second-apron territory, so Grousbeck’s comments about the sustainability of that approach are eyebrow-raising.
Of course, it’s worth noting that not all of the apron-related penalties had been implemented during the 2023/24 season, so a third season above the second apron might be more viable for the Celtics or another team in ’25/26 than it would be going forward. Still, based on Grousbeck’s remarks, it sounds like some cost-cutting could be in Boston’s future.
Here are a few more noteworthy comments from Grousbeck’s media appearances this week:
On how the Celtics, specifically, plan to navigate the second apron in the short term:
(via Robb)
“We have Brad Stevens, the reigning Executive of The Year, and thank God we do. He’s the one who really brought us this championship with his brilliant moves –along with many other people — but Brad is at the forefront. He’s looking at this and is going to extend our window and make it work. We’ll find out in June or July what we’re going to do.”
On what he told Stevens, head coach Joe Mazzulla, and stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown about the sale:
(via Sanjesh Singh of NBC Sports Boston)
“I’ve actually talked to Jayson, Jaylen, Joe and Brad and said, ‘Just so you know…these small group of finalists are all great and they can all do the job, and we won’t let it go to anybody who would fall short of that.’ I told them basically just a few days ago when I saw them all at practice, ‘It’s OK. Don’t put it on your mind. Take it off your mind if you can. Because we’ve got you, this is going to go fine.’
“They said, ‘We trust you.’ Jayson Tatum literally looked at me and said, “I trust you, Wyc. Got it.’ And with good reason, hopefully, that he trusts me. Everything’s good on that front.”
On what advice he has given to Chisholm:
(via Singh)
“Be yourself. You are a fan. The fans are going to love you. We’re not going to win every game together. They want to see that you care, that you’re a fan who bought the team. That’s our group here, we’re fans who bought this team. You’re a fan who’s buying in…we’re going to be fans who’s running this team for Celtic pride on and off the court…When you do that, everything else follows.”
On why there are no plans to build a new arena that the Celtics would own:
(via Robb of MassLive.com)
“It’s not broken over there, and we have a great partnership with (the Jacobs family, which owns the Boston Bruins and the TD Garden). Honestly, there’s room for one arena in Boston, not two. Because you need to have concerts and events to fill out the bill. And if we ever talked to the Jacobs, we all decided to renovate the Garden very seriously – there have been huge, hundreds of millions of dollars of renovations. But if we ever decide to do anything, I’m sure we’d do it together and have both teams playing there.
“It shouldn’t be on everybody’s mind. We’ve got a lease in the Garden until, like, the 2030s, and we’ve got a good partnership with them, and we’ll both upgrade whatever we need to do to keep the fans happy, because we’re fans ourselves.”
NBA Fines Trendon Watford, Myles Turner, Andrew Nembhard
Nets forward Trendon Watford, Pacers center Myles Turner, and Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard were each fined by the NBA on Friday night for their roles in a Thursday altercation, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link).
Watford and Turner were hit with fines of $35K apiece, while Nembhard received a $20K penalty.
As we detailed earlier today, the altercation began as Bennedict Mathurin was driving to Brooklyn’s basket for a layup during the fourth quarter of Indiana’s victory. Watford and Nembhard engaged in a little pushing and shoving away from the play before Turner entered the fray and shoved Watford (YouTube link via ESPN). Both teams got involved at that point, with coaches and officials eventually separating the two sides.
Nembhard and Watford received double technical fouls for their exchange, as did Turner and Watford for theirs. As a result of being hit with two technicals, Watford was automatically ejected from the game.
According to the NBA, Nembhard and Watford were both responsible for initiating the skirmish, but Watford escalated it when he “delivered a right forearm to (Nembhard’s) chest region.” Turner was also considered to have escalated matters by shoving Watford.
Relative to their full-season salaries, the fines are more significant for Watford, who is earning $2.73MM, and Nembhard ($2.02MM) than they are for Turner, whose cap hit this season is $19.93MM.
And-Ones: Rebuilding Teams, Free Agency, Flagg, NBL
Among 11 NBA teams in various stages of their respective rebuilds, the Spurs are best positioned for the long run, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Insider link). San Antonio’s place atop the rankings has a lot to do with the presence of Victor Wembanyama on the roster, but Bontemps points to Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and recently acquired point guard De’Aaron Fox as other likely core pieces for the Spurs, who could end up with two more lottery picks this spring.
Interestingly, Bontemps places the Hornets and Wizards at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on his rebuild rankings, praising Charlotte in particular for its promising collection of young talent. The Trail Blazers and Bulls come in at 10th and 11th on Bontemps’ list, largely because there are questions about whether either team has a franchise player to build around and whether they’ll be in position to land one in the draft anytime soon.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic highlights several of the challenging situations that teams will face in free agency this summer, including the Cavaliers with Ty Jerome, the Nuggets with Russell Westbrook, the Kings with Jake LaRavia, and the Sixers with Quentin Grimes and Guerschon Yabusele. Many of those clubs will be limited in what they can offer their free agents, either due to a lack of full Bird rights or tax/apron concerns.
- Meanwhile, Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) looks ahead to 2026 and explains why next year’s star-studded free agent class will likely be something of a mirage, given all the contract extensions likely to be signed between now and then.
- ESPN draft experts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo (Insider link) spoke to 10 NBA executives about projected No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, surveying those execs on the Duke freshman’s strengths and weaknesses, his odds of winning a title with the Blue Devils, and whether there’s any chance he decides to stay in school for another year. “I can’t remember a No. 1 pick deciding to go back to school,” one Eastern Conference scout told ESPN.
- Ahead of the NBA playing its first games in Australia this fall, a battle over the ownership of the country’s National Basketball League appears to be brewing. Olgun Uluc of ESPN Australia has the story.
Western Notes: Bogdanovic, Durant, Rockets, Mavs, Nuggets
Veteran guard Bogdan Bogdanovic was having the worst year of his NBA career in Atlanta this season, averaging 10.0 points per game on 37.1% shooting (30.1% on three-pointers). He has looked more like his usual self since being traded to Los Angeles, bumping his scoring average to 12.6 PPG while making 48.5% of his shots from the floor (and 40.0% of his threes).
Bogdanovic has emerged as an X-factor for the Clippers, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register, due to his ability to read the floor, his decision-making, and the way he complements star guard James Harden.
“Bogey, him coming to our team really gave us a shot in the arm and helped us out in all of those areas,” assistant coach Brian Shaw said. “(His) spacing, being able to handle the ball takes some of the pressure off of James … and then when we want to seek out mismatches, they have to account for him out on the three-point line and that leaves the paint and everything open.”
Bogdanovic has a guaranteed $16MM salary for next season and a $16MM team option for 2026/27, so he won’t simply be a rental for his new team.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Within a mailbag for SI.com, veteran NBA reporter Chris Mannix says he thinks Suns forward Kevin Durant would like to end up with with the Rockets this summer. While Mannix makes it clear that’s just his opinion, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) notes that he shares that opinion. Houston controls a handful of Phoenix’s draft picks, making the two teams an obvious match, but the question is how much interest the Rockets would have in giving up significant assets for a player who will be 37 next season — past reports have suggested they’ve sought to complement their young core with a more “age-appropriate” star.
- The Mavericks held Kessler Edwards out of their game against Detroit on Friday, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets. Edwards, who is on a two-way contract, can only be active once more and Dallas didn’t want to burn his last game quite yet, so he’ll join the team on its upcoming road trip. Another two-way player, Brandon Williams, is active for the Mavs on Friday and will have just four active games of his own left after tonight (Twitter link).
- Bennett Durando addresses a series of Nuggets-related topics in a mailbag for The Denver Post, exploring what the team’s playoff rotation might look like, discussing the latest on Aaron Gordon‘s nagging calf injury, and evaluating who’s to blame for Denver’s subpar defensive play.
Jaylen Brown Out At Least Two Games With Bone Bruise
Celtics forward Jaylen Brown has been ruled out for at least two games after being diagnosed with a bone bruise with posterior impingement in his right knee, according to the team (Twitter link).
Brown will miss Friday’s contest in Utah and Sunday’s in Portland before being reevaluated on Monday. It’s unclear whether he’ll be available for the rest of the Celtics’ road trip, which includes games in Sacramento (March 24), Phoenix (March 26), San Antonio (March 29), and Memphis (March 31).
Brown also sat out on March 6 and March 14 due to his right knee issue, which was referred to at that time as simply “posterior impingement” — both of those games were part of back-to-back sets.
While Brown’s reevaluation timeline suggests the injury isn’t considered a significant one, it makes sense for the Celtics to keep him sidelined for at least a couple games if they believe that extra rest will help him get closer to 100%. Boston’s 50-19 record puts the team six games behind the top-seeded Cavaliers and six games up on the No. 3 Knicks, so the priority at this point is getting healthy for the postseason rather than fighting for a playoff seed.
Brown has averaged 22.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in 35.3 minutes per game across 56 outings (all starts) this season. He’s a candidate for a spot on an All-NBA team, but his eligibility will hinge on whether his knee ailment keeps him on the shelf beyond Sunday. After missing the Celtics’ next two games, the 28-year-old will have to play in at least nine of the final 11 to meet the 65-game criteria.