Contract Details: Mobley, Hauser, Reeves, Mamukelashvili
Evan Mobley‘s new maximum-salary extension with the Cavaliers features a 15% trade kicker and is fully guaranteed, with no player or team option on the fifth year, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
As Brian Windhorst previously reported, Mobley’s deal includes multiple levels of Rose Rule incentives and could end up starting at either 25%, 27.5%, or 30% of the 2025/26 cap, depending on whether the big man earns end-of-season honors next season. According to Windhorst, a spot on the All-NBA Third Team would bump Mobley’s starting salary to 27.5% of the cap, but he’d have to make one of the top two teams or win Defensive Player of the Year to increase that figure to 30%.
Here are a few more details on recently signed NBA contracts:
- Sam Hauser‘s four-year extension with the Celtics is worth exactly $45MM, as previously reported, and has a straightforward ascending structure with 8% annual raises, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan. Hauser’s contract starts at just over $10MM in 2025/26 and increases to nearly $12.5MM by the fourth year (2028/29).
- Antonio Reeves‘ three-year, minimum-salary contract with the Pelicans is only fully guaranteed for the 2024/25 season, Hoops Rumors has learned. Reeves’ second-year salary would become 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through at least July 23, 2025, while his third-year team option is non-guaranteed.
- Sandro Mamukelashvili‘s one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Spurs is fully guaranteed, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Mamukelashvili also waived his right to veto a trade. San Antonio has 14 players with guaranteed salaries for 2024/25, with a 15th player (Julian Champagnie) on a non-guaranteed standard contract.
- The two-way contracts recently signed by Jeff Dowtin (Sixers), Jay Huff (Grizzlies), and DJ Steward (Bulls) are each for one season.
12-Man Rosters Set For 2024 Paris Olympics
The 12-man rosters for all 12 nations competing in the men’s basketball tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics have formally been finalized. The event will tip off on Saturday, with Team USA scheduled to play its first pool-play game on Sunday.
A total of 47 players who are currently on NBA rosters will take part in the Olympics, while a 48th – undrafted free agent Keisei Tominaga – has reportedly agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Pacers that has yet to be finalized.
Team USA leads the way with 12 active NBA players, followed by Canada (10), and Australia (eight). France, Germany, and Serbia have four active NBAers apiece on their respective squads.
With Bol Bol no longer in the mix, South Sudan is the only club at the Olympics without an active NBA player on its roster.
An additional 35 players on Olympic rosters have previously appeared in regular season NBA games. That group of 35 doesn’t include players who signed an NBA contract but never played a game, or players who were selected in an NBA draft but never debuted stateside.
Several teams who don’t have many active NBA players on their rosters are carrying a handful of players who used to be in the league. For instance, Warriors guard Gui Santos is the only active NBA player on Brazil’s roster, but the group includes six former NBA players. Spain also has six former NBAers, while France, Puerto Rico, and South Sudan have four each.
Listed below are the full rosters for this summer’s Olympics. Players on NBA contracts are marked with an asterisk (*) while players with previous NBA experience are marked with a caret (^).
Group A
Australia
- Dyson Daniels, G *
- Matthew Dellavedova, G ^
- Dante Exum, G *
- Josh Giddey, G *
- Patty Mills, G ^
- Josh Green, F *
- Joe Ingles, F *
- Nick Kay, F
- Jack McVeigh, F *
- Jock Landale, C *
- Will Magnay, C ^
- Duop Reath, C *
Canada
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker, G *
- Luguentz Dort, G *
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G *
- Jamal Murray, G *
- Andrew Nembhard, G *
- RJ Barrett, F *
- Dillon Brooks, F *
- Melvin Ejim, F
- Trey Lyles, F *
- Dwight Powell, F *
- Khem Birch, C ^
- Kelly Olynyk, C *
Greece
- Nick Calathes, G ^
- Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, G
- Giannoulis Larentzakis, G
- Dimitris Moraitis, G
- Vassilis Toliopoulos, G
- Thomas Walkup, G
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, F *
- Vassilis Charalampopoulos, F
- Nikos Chougkaz, F
- Dinos Mitoglou, F
- Kostas Papanikolaou, F ^
- Georgios Papagiannis, C ^
Spain
- Dario Brizuela, G
- Lorenzo Brown, G ^
- Alberto Diaz, G
- Sergio Llull, G
- Alex Abrines, F ^
- Santi Aldama, F *
- Rudy Fernandez, F ^
- Usman Garuba, F ^
- Juancho Hernangomez, F ^
- Xabi Lopez-Arostegui, F
- Willy Hernangomez, C ^
- Jaime Pradilla, C
Group B
Brazil
- Vitor Benite, G
- Georginho De Paula, G
- Marcelinho Huertas, G ^
- Didi Louzada, G ^
- Raul Neto, G ^
- Gui Santos, G *
- Yago Santos, G
- Bruno Caboclo, F ^
- Lucas Dias, F
- Leo Meindl, F
- Maozinha Pereira, F ^
- Cristiano Felicio, C ^
France
- Andrew Albicy, G
- Isaia Cordinier, G
- Nando De Colo, G ^
- Evan Fournier, G ^
- Frank Ntilikina, G ^
- Matthew Strazel, G
- Nicolas Batum, F *
- Bilal Coulibaly, F *
- Victor Wembanyama, F *
- Guerschon Yabusele, F ^
- Rudy Gobert, C *
- Mathias Lessort, C
Germany
- Isaac Bonga, G ^
- Maodo Lo, G
- Andreas Obst, G
- Dennis Schröder, G *
- Nick Weiler-Babb, G
- Oscar Da Silva, F
- Niels Giffey, F
- Johannes Thiemann, F
- Franz Wagner, F *
- Moritz Wagner, F *
- Daniel Theis, C *
- Johannes Voigtmann, C
Japan
- Makoto Hiejima, G
- Yuki Kawamura, G
- Kai Toews, G
- Yuki Togashi, G
- Keisei Tominaga, G *
- Yudai Baba, F
- Rui Hachimura, F *
- Akira Jacobs, F
- Yuta Watanabe, F ^
- Hirotaka Yoshii, F
- Josh Hawkinson, C
- Hugh Watanabe, C
Group C
Puerto Rico
- Jose Alvarado, G *
- Gian Clavell, G ^
- Jordan Howard, G
- Davon Reed, G ^
- Stephen Thompson Jr., G
- Tremont Waters, G ^
- George Conditt, F
- Aleem Ford, F ^
- Christopher Ortiz, F
- Isaiah Pineiro, F
- Arnaldo Toro, F
- Ismael Romero, C
Serbia
- Aleksa Avramovic, G
- Bogdan Bogdanovic, G *
- Ognjen Dobric, G
- Marko Guduric, G ^
- Vanja Marinkovic, G
- Vasilije Micic, G *
- Dejan Davidovac, F
- Nikola Jovic, F *
- Nikola Jokic, C *
- Nikola Milutinov, C
- Filip Petrusev, C ^
- Uros Plavsic, C
South Sudan
- Sunday Dech, G
- Peter Jok, G
- Carlik Jones, G ^
- Bul Kuol, G
- Jackson Makoi, G
- Marial Shayok, G ^
- Majok Deng, F
- Wenyen Gabriel, F ^
- Kuany Kuany, F
- Nuni Omot, F
- JT Thor, F ^
- Khaman Maluach, C
United States
- Devin Booker, G *
- Stephen Curry, G *
- Anthony Edwards, G *
- Tyrese Haliburton, G *
- Jrue Holiday, G *
- Derrick White, G *
- Kevin Durant, F *
- LeBron James, F *
- Jayson Tatum, F *
- Bam Adebayo, C *
- Anthony Davis, C *
- Joel Embiid, C *
Pacers Re-Sign James Johnson To One-Year Deal
JULY 25: The Pacers have officially re-signed Johnson, the team confirmed today in a press release.
JULY 24: The Pacers are bringing back James Johnson, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from agent Mark Bartelstein that the veteran forward has agreed to a one-year, $3.3MM deal with Indiana.
Johnson, 37, has played for 10 NBA teams since entering the league as the 16th overall pick in the 2009 draft, but he hasn’t signed with any club besides the Pacers since September 2022. He has been on and off Indiana’s roster since his initial arrival — this will be the seventh contract he has signed with the team in the last two years.
Johnson has only appeared in 27 games as a Pacer, averaging a modest 2.2 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per game during those outings. However, he’s valued within the organization for his toughness, veteran leadership, and presence in the locker room.
The minimum salary for a player with Johnson’s years of service is $3,303,771, so it’s safe to assume that’s what his contract will be worth. The Pacers will carry a cap hit of $2,087,519, with the league picking up the balance.
It’s unclear if the deal will be fully guaranteed. Last season, Johnson signed a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract with the Pacers in December, was waived in January before it became fully guaranteed, then was brought back on a pair of two-way contracts and eventually a rest-of-season agreement.
Prior to officially signing Johnson, the Pacers are carrying 12 players on fully guaranteed salaries for 2024/25, with James Wiseman on a partially guaranteed deal and Kendall Brown on a non-guaranteed contract.
Nets To Sign Killian Hayes
5:20pm: Hayes’ deal with the Nets will be a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
4:25pm: The Nets have agreed to a deal with former lottery pick Killian Hayes, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Hayes will sign a one-year contract and will have an opportunity to compete for a regular season roster spot in Brooklyn.
The seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft, Hayes spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Pistons before being waived this February at the trade deadline. He has been an unrestricted free agent since then.
Hayes, who will turn 23 on Saturday, entered the NBA with a reputation for being a solid defender and passer whose offensive game was a work in progress, and that’s essentially still the case, as his shooting percentages increased only marginally over the course of his four years in the league.
Hayes averaged 6.9 points, 4.9 assists, and 2.8 rebounds in 24.0 minutes per game across 42 appearances (31 starts) this past season, with a shooting line of .413/.297/.660. Those field goal and three-point percentages actually represent career bests. His career NBA averages are 8.1 PPG, 5.2 APG, and 2.9 RPG on .382/.277/.775 shooting in 210 games (145 starts).
While the exact details of Hayes’ deal have yet to be reported, it’ll almost certainly be a minimum-salary contract. And since he isn’t assured of a 15-man roster spot, I’d expect his salary to either be non-guaranteed or to include just a modest partial guarantee.
The Nets are carrying 15 players on standard contracts prior to officially signing Hayes. Of those players, 13 are on fully guaranteed deals. Keon Johnson has a $250K partial guarantee, while Jalen Wilson has a partial guarantee of $75K.
NBA Rejects TNT’s Proposal To Match Amazon’s Media Rights Offer
5:49pm: TNT has promised to take “appropriate action” in a statement regarding the media rights deal (Twitter link).
“We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it,” the network states. “In doing so, they are rejecting the many fans who continue to show their unwavering support for our best-in-class coverage, delivered through the full combined reach of WBD’s video-first distribution platforms including TNT, home to our four-decade partnership with the league, and Max, our leading streaming service.
We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025/26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action. We look forward, however, to another great season of the NBA on TNT and Max including our iconic Inside the NBA.”
3:42pm: Just two days after TNT Sports announced it had submitted paperwork to the league office exercising its matching rights on Amazon’s new media rights deal with the NBA, the league has responded by rejecting TNT’s proposal.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the league’s statement reads.
“Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans. Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.
“We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT.”
This process is playing out as expected so far. As a longtime NBA broadcast partner, Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT’s parent company) was given some form of matching rights in its previous agreement with the league. However, the belief was that the NBA wouldn’t recognize those rights when TNT matched Amazon’s offer, given the differences between the two companies’ distribution methods and the sort of reach they can offer.
TNT could simply accept the NBA’s decision and back down. However, the expectation is that the company will strongly consider a legal challenge in response to the NBA’s ruling. That could result in an in-court battle over Amazon’s package or perhaps a financial settlement for WBD.
In any case, it seems more certain than ever that the NBA will move forward without TNT Sports as a partner beginning in 2025/26, when its new media rights deals go into effect. That would mean the 2024/25 season will be the last one that features national games and the popular “Inside the NBA” studio show on the network.
The league issued a separate press release officially announcing its agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video.
Reggie Jackson Gave Up $3.3MM In Hornets Buyout
Veteran point guard Reggie Jackson, who was officially waived by the Hornets on Tuesday, reached a buyout agreement with the team that created the path for his exit, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). According to Scotto, Jackson gave up $3.3MM as part of the buyout.
Hoops Rumors has confirmed that Jackson surrendered exactly $3,303,771, which is the amount the 34-year-old will earn with the Sixers once he clears waivers and signs a new minimum-salary contract with Philadelphia.
The move reduces the amount of dead money on the Hornets’ books from $5,250,000 to $1,946,229, creating a little extra financial flexibility for the club. Charlotte is over the cap but has plenty of breathing room (approximately $16MM) below the luxury tax line.
As for Jackson, he’ll ultimately earn the same $5.25MM salary that he would’ve if he’d remained on his previous contract. He’ll be paid $1,946,229 by the Hornets and $3,303,771 by the Sixers — plus, he’ll now have the opportunity to play for a team much closer to title contention. He was traded from Denver to Charlotte earlier in the offseason.
Jackson is the second veteran point guard to give up money in a buyout agreement in recent days, joining Russell Westbrook, who surrendered $1.7MM when he was waived by the Jazz. Raptors forward Sasha Vezenkov was also bought out this week, having given up his entire $6.66MM salary to get out of his NBA contract in order to return to Greece.
NBA Announces Details Of Media Deals With Disney, NBC, Amazon
After announcing that it has rejected TNT’s proposal to match Amazon’s media rights offer, the NBA formally confirmed the renewal of its broadcast agreement with Disney (ESPN/ABC) and its new deals with NBCUniversal (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video).
The new media deals will cover 11 years, beginning with the 2025/26 season and running through ’35/36. While the league’s announcement doesn’t share any financial details, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic pegs the value of the agreements at about $77 billion in total, with Disney paying approximately $2.6 billion per year, NBC at $2.5 billion per year, and Amazon around $1.93 billion annually.
The NBA states that the new deals will significantly increase the number of games available on broadcast television, bumping that number to about 75 per season. All national games will also be available on streaming services (Prime Video, Peacock, or ESPN’s forthcoming service).
Here are some additional details from the league:
Disney:
- Disney will broadcast 80 regular season games per year, including 20+ on ABC and up to 60 on ESPN. ABC’s games will air on Saturdays and Sundays, with ESPN’s airing on Wednesdays and some Fridays.
- ABC and ESPN will broadcast about 18 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs each season.
- In 10 of the 11 seasons in the agreement, ABC and ESPN will air one of the two conference finals.
- ABC will continue to air the NBA Finals.
- ABC/ESPN will continue to air the draft, the draft lottery, and half of the Summer League games.
NBCUniversal:
- NBCUniversal will distribute as many as 100 regular season games per year. More than half of those games will be broadcast on NBC on Sunday and Tuesday nights. Peacock will stream Monday night doubleheaders throughout the regular season.
- The All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday Night (including the dunk contest and three-point competition) will air on NBC.
- NBC and/or Peacock will air about 28 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs each season.
- In six of the 11 seasons in the agreement, NBC will broadcast one of the two conference finals. They’ll rotate with Amazon beginning in 2025/26.
Amazon:
- Amazon will distribute 66 regular season games per year on Prime Video. Those will include Thursday doubleheaders (beginning in January), Friday doubleheaders, some Saturday games, and at least one game on Black Friday.
- Prime Video will broadcast the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final of the NBA Cup (in-season tournament).
- Prime Video will broadcast all six games in the play-in tournament.
- Prime Video will air approximately a third of the games in the first two rounds of the playoffs each season.
- In six of the 11 seasons in the agreement, Amazon will air one of the two conference finals. They’ll rotate with NBC beginning in 2025/26.
- Note: Because NBC and Amazon will each broadcast six conference finals, there will be one year in which they each get one and Disney doesn’t.
- Prime Video will air half of the Summer League games.
A lawsuit from TNT Sports – a longtime NBA broadcast partner and the odd man out in this round of negotiations – is possible after the NBA rejected TNT’s right to match Amazon’s deal.
However, according to Marchand, neither side would want an extended legal battle in which private conversations could be made public during the discovery process. That means a lawsuit may lead to a settlement, either in the form of other NBA rights or financial compensation.
Thunder’s Nikola Topic Undergoes ACL Surgery
Thunder rookie Nikola Topic has undergone successful surgery to address his torn left ACL, the team announced today.
According to Thunder, the procedure was performed in Los Angeles by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, with team medical personnel in attendance. As expected, Topic is projected to miss the entire 2024/25 season, postponing his NBA debut until the fall of 2025.
Word initially broke in early June that Topic had suffered a partially torn ACL, so the Thunder weren’t caught off guard by the need for surgery when they drafted the Serbian point guard with the No. 12 overall pick a few weeks later. Head of basketball operations Sam Presti confirmed when speaking to reporters following the first round of the draft that Oklahoma City expected the lottery pick to be unavailable for all of ’24/25.
Topic will be the second Thunder lottery pick in the past three years to essentially get a redshirt season. Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 draft, suffered a foot injury later that summer that cost him all of ’22/23.
Topic is still expected to join the Thunder shortly and spend his rookie season around the team like Holmgren did two years ago. That experience benefited Holmgren, who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting this spring after averaging 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per contest while starting all 82 games for the Thunder.
Topic will earn a $4.9MM salary in 2024/25 while he recovers from ACL surgery. He has a guaranteed salary of $5.2MM in ’25/26, followed by team options of $5.4MM and $7.5MM in his third and fourth seasons.
Grizzlies Sign Jay Huff To Two-Way Deal, Waive Trey Jemison
The Grizzlies have signed free agent big man Jay Huff to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link). In order to open up a two-way slot for Huff, Memphis waived center Trey Jemison.
Huff, who went undrafted out of Virginia in 2021, has bounced back and forth between the NBA and G League over the past three years, appearing in 31 regular season NBA games during that time, including 20 while on a two-way contract with the Nuggets last season.
Huff’s contributions at the NBA level have been modest (2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.3 minutes per game), but he has excelled in the NBAGL, earning Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBAGL First Team honors in 2023. In 18 games last season for the Grand Rapids Gold – Denver’s affiliate – he averaged 19.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks in 28.9 minutes per contest, with a strong shooting line of .573/.390/.857.
The 7’1″ center was also impressive at the Las Vegas Summer League with the Magic this month, putting up 16.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 2.2 BPG on .621/.357/.778 shooting in five outings (26.5 MPG).
Jemison signed a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies in January, then agreed to a two-year, two-way deal when that contract expired. He earned regular minutes down the stretch on a Memphis roster hit hard by injuries, averaging 7.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 23 games (24.9 MPG). However, it appears he’s not in the team’s plans going forward, at least for now.
Huff joins Cam Spencer and Scotty Pippen Jr. as the Grizzlies’ two-way players.
Knicks, Tom Thibodeau Agree To Three-Year Extension
The Knicks and head coach Tom Thibodeau have reached an agreement on a three-year extension, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Thibodeau had one year left on his current contract, so the new deal will begin 2025 and will run through the 2027/28 season.
An extension for Thibodeau had been expected for much of the offseason after he led a banged-up roster to its second consecutive Eastern Conference semifinal this spring.
The Knicks have finished at least 10 games above .500 in three of Thibodeau’s four years at the helm, compiling a 175-143 (.550) regular season record during that time, including a 50-32 mark in 2023/24, which was the team’s best single-season record in over a decade.
As Wojnarowski observes (via Twitter), New York was one of just four teams to finish in the NBA’s top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency in ’23/24. The NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2011 (with the Bulls) and 2021 (with the Knicks), Thibodeau finished fifth in voting for the award this season.
Thibodeau’s extension is the latest major move in what has been an eventful offseason for the Knicks’ front office. The team kicked off the summer by making a deal with the cross-town Nets to land Mikal Bridges, then locked up top free agent OG Anunoby to a five-year contract and signed All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson to a below-market, long-term extension.
The financial terms of Thibodeau’s extension aren’t yet known. There has been speculation that his new contract will exceed $10MM per year, given the eight-figure annual salaries that coaches like Monty Williams, Erik Spoelstra, Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, Mike Budenholzer, and Tyronn Lue have received since last spring.