Lakers’ Bronny James Signs Standard Contract
JULY 3: James has officially signed a four-year contract with the Lakers, Charania confirms (via Twitter). According to Charania, it’s a $7.9MM deal, which means it’s almost certainly worth the rookie minimum — a four-year, minimum-salary deal for a rookie would work out to $7,895,796.
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the first two years will be guaranteed, with a partial guarantee of $1.3MM in year three. The fourth year is a team option.
JULY 2: No. 55 overall pick Bronny James will sign a standard contract with the Lakers that includes multiple guaranteed seasons, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.
[RELATED: Lakers Select Bronny James With No. 55 Pick]
This has been the expectation for James once it became clear that the Lakers were targeting him at No. 55 in last week’s draft. Reports ahead of the draft indicated that Rich Paul was focused on getting Bronny a guaranteed 15-man roster spot rather than a two-way contract, which the agent later confirmed on the record.
Additionally, as John Hollinger of The Athletic observes, it’s not uncommon for potential luxury tax teams to sign late second-round picks to standard contracts for money-saving purposes, since they only count for the rookie minimum (about $1.16MM this season) instead of the veteran’s minimum of $2.09MM.
The Lakers will almost certainly use the second-round pick exception to sign James to a contract that covers either three or four seasons. The deal will include a team option on the final year.
Bulls Sign Matas Buzelis To Rookie Contract
Rookie forward Matas Buzelis, the No. 11 pick in the 2024 draft, has signed his first NBA contract with the Bulls, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
A 6’10” forward who played for the G League Ignite in 2023/24, Buzelis averaged 14.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 31.0 minutes per game across 34 NBAGL outings. While there’s optimism among NBA evaluators about his ability to improve as a shooter, he made a modest 45.3% of his field goal attempts and 26.1% of his three-pointers for the Ignite.
Viewed as a possible top-five pick, Buzelis slipped out of the top 10 and will head to a Chicago team that’s in the midst of retooling its roster. The Bulls have already traded Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey, are prepared to lose DeMar DeRozan in free agency, and are looking to move Zach LaVine.
As our breakdown of this year’s rookie salaries shows, Buzelis will earn approximately $5.2MM in his first NBA season and nearly $24MM over the course of four years, assuming he signed for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale (which virtually every first-rounder does). The third and fourth years of the deal will be team options.
FA Rumors: DeRozan, Kings, Hield, Warriors, Martin, Heat, Hezonja
Assuming DeMar DeRozan doesn’t sign with a cap-room team, it will almost certainly require a sign-and-trade to land him, per Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (video link). As Haynes explains, DeRozan has no interest in settling for a mid-level offer.
“For the teams that might be calling or gauging interest in DeMar taking a full mid-level exception, which is around $13MM, I’m told that is not even being considered right now,” Haynes said on Tuesday.
The Bulls won’t bring back DeRozan, but they’re open to working with him on a sign-and-trade to help him get where he wants, Haynes confirms. Still, negotiating that sort of deal will be a challenge, given that some of the forward’s suitors (like Miami) aren’t in a great financial position to make a sign-and-trade. I’d also expect Chicago will be reluctant to take back much salary, since the team projects to be about $13MM below the luxury tax line, though that number is fluid and would move up or down if other moves are made.
Appearing on ESPN’s NBA Today on Tuesday (Twitter video link), Marc J. Spears of Andscape identified the Kings as one “dark horse” suitor to watch for DeRozan. Sacramento has reportedly made Harrison Barnes, Kevin Huerter, and draft capital available in trade talks (in general, not for DeRozan specifically) as the team looks to upgrade its roster around Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. Previous reporting has indicated that the Bulls like Huerter.
Here are a few more free agency updates from around the NBA:
- Buddy Hield doesn’t have an agreement in place with the Warriors yet, but the two sides are “tracking toward” a deal, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links), who says that a sign-and-trade would likely see the Sixers receive second-round draft capital in return. If Golden State doesn’t send out additional salary, the club would have to absorb both Hield and Kyle Anderson into a trade exception created by sending Klay Thompson to Dallas, or complete all three of those moves as one multi-team mega-deal in order to maximize Thompson’s outgoing salary as a matching piece (John Hollinger of The Athletic briefly explored this more complex possibility on Tuesday night).
- While Caleb Martin‘s return to the Heat is still considered unlikely, it shouldn’t be entirely ruled out, according to Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang, who suggest in a pair of stories for The Miami Herald that the team’s interest in re-signing Martin hasn’t waned as long as the price is right. Jackson and Chiang also say that Miami remains in the mix to sign Haywood Highsmith, though his return is “far from guaranteed.”
- The Heat had initial discussions with DeMar DeRozan on Tuesday and expect to follow up on Wednesday, but there have been no indications that the club will “move mountains” (ie. shed significant salary) in order to land him, Jackson tweets.
- Although Real Madrid has officially announced its new five-year contract with Mario Hezonja, the veteran forward has an NBA-opt out until July 20 with a modest buyout figure and has received interest from “numerous” NBA teams, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. The 29-year-old, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2015 draft, appeared in 330 NBA regular season games but has been out of the league since 2020.
Checking In On Top Remaining NBA Free Agents
A handful of this year’s top free agents came off the board during the exclusive window for teams to negotiate with their own players between the end of the NBA Finals and the official start of free agency on June 30. Many more have reached deals with their own teams or new clubs since Sunday at 5:00 pm CT.
But there are still many starter- and rotation-caliber players left unsigned — only 33 of our top 50 free agents have reached contract agreements so far, leaving 17 up for grabs. Here are those players who don’t yet have new deals in place:
- LeBron James, F
- DeMar DeRozan, F
- Miles Bridges, F
- Tyus Jones, G
- Gary Trent Jr., G
- Isaac Okoro, F (Cavaliers RFA)
- Caleb Martin, F
- Buddy Hield, G
- Simone Fontecchio, F (Pistons RFA)
- Luke Kennard, G
- Malik Beasley, G/F
- Haywood Highsmith, G/F
- Precious Achiuwa, F/C
- Markelle Fultz, G
- Saddiq Bey, F
- Cedi Osman, F
- Gordon Hayward, F
Now, this isn’t 2010, 2014, or 2018. No one expects James to leave Los Angeles. It’s presumably just a matter of time until he and the Lakers agree to terms on either a new maximum-salary contract or something below that, if it helps L.A. acquire an impact player.
But even if we take the four-time MVP off this list, there are some intriguing names here, starting with DeRozan, a player believed to be the only free agent still available whom LeBron would take a pay cut to accommodate. As we relayed on Tuesday, the Lakers have interest in DeRozan, as do the Heat, but Miami can’t offer more than the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.2MM) and L.A. would almost certainly have to move at least one eight-figure contract to make a competitive offer for the star forward.
There’s reportedly some mutual interest between the Clippers and Bridges, though that interest may be stronger from the player’s side than the team’s. Jones, meanwhile, is said to be seeking starter-level money, with a sign-and-trade considered a possibility, but we haven’t really heard much about which teams are involved for the steady veteran point guard.
It’s interesting that Trent, Hield, Kennard, and Beasley are among the top free agents without a deal. All four provide valuable floor-spacing on offense, but aren’t elite defenders. Teams may be wary about investing big money in outside shooters who could be targeted (especially in the postseason) on the other end of the court. The Warriors are reportedly discussing a potential sign-and-trade deal for Hield, while Kennard is considered likely to return to the Grizzlies.
As long as there’s no team pursuing an offer sheet for Okoro or Fontecchio, the Cavaliers and Pistons can afford to be patient in those negotiations, since they have most of the leverage over their respective restricted free agents. The Knicks and Hawks don’t have the same leverage with Achiuwa and Bey after declining to issue them qualifying offers, but even as unrestricted free agents, both players appear open to re-signing with their previous teams.
I’m a little surprised that neither Martin nor Highsmith has come off the board yet. The longer the stay out there, the more the door cracks open for a possible return to the Heat, though that’s considered more plausible for Highsmith than Martin.
As for Fultz, Osman, and Hayward, the rumor mill has been pretty quiet on those players so far.
One factor that’ll make it more difficult for all of these players to get favorable contracts? Keith Smith of Spotrac tweeted on Tuesday morning that the Jazz, Pistons, Magic, and Sixers were the only teams with cap room remaining, and Orlando has since used most or all of that leftover space by agreeing to re-sign Moritz Wagner and agreeing to renegotiate Jonathan Isaac‘s contract to give him a pay raise for 2024/25.
Utah and Detroit could still add another free agent or two, but it may be prudent for them to keep much of their cap room open for now in order to be able to jump into trade talks as a third team willing to take on salary that comes with assets attached. Philadelphia is also a possible landing spot for some of these free agents, but the 76ers also seem to be exploring ways to use their remaining cap room on the trade market, with Dorian Finney-Smith mentioned on Tuesday as one potential target.
If they can’t land a deal from one of those cap-room teams, many of the best free agents left on the board will have to find a team willing to hard-cap itself at the first tax apron by acquiring them via sign-and-trade or by signing them using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception. That may not be easy, and could result in some of the players on the back end of our top 50 ultimately settling for the minimum or something close to it.
All of the free agent deals agreed upon so far can be found within our 2024 free agent tracker. The full list of free agents still available can be found right here (or here, if you prefer to sort by team rather than by position/type).
Warriors Pursuing Buddy Hield Via Sign-And-Trade
The Warriors are engaging in serious discussions about a sign-and-trade that would send sharpshooter Buddy Hield to Golden State, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that the Warriors and Sixers are working on the details of a potential deal.
While Golden State is parting ways this offseason with Klay Thompson, who ranks sixth all-time in made three-pointers (2,481), Hield isn’t far behind him on that all-time list, coming in at No. 22 with 1,924 three-pointers of his own. Over the course of his eight-year career, Hield has knocked down 40.0% of 7.6 three-point attempts per game.
In 2023/24, Hield appeared in a league-high 84 regular season games, exceeding the typical 82-game limit as a result of a midseason trade that sent him from Indiana to Philadelphia. He averaged 12.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 25.7 minutes per game for the Pacers and Sixers, with a .386 3PT%.
Hield’s elite shooting made him the No. 24 free agent on our top-50 list, though as I wrote within that article, his game doesn’t really stand out in many other areas. His value also took a bit of a hit this year, as he was essentially dumped for non-rotation players and a couple second-round picks by a Pacers team that eventually made it to the Eastern Conference finals, then barely saw the court in the Sixers’ first-round playoff series vs. New York.
Still, depending on the cost – in terms of both his salary and the piece(s) going to Philadelphia – that outside shot could make him a worthwhile investment for the Warriors.
It’s unclear if Golden State would be sending out any salary in the proposed sign-and-trade. There are ways for the team to pull it off with little to no outgoing money as long as Hield’s starting salary isn’t too high, but moving off an expiring contract – such as Gary Payton II and/or Kevon Looney – would give the Warriors more flexibility under their first-apron hard cap and could allow for a more lucrative contract for Hield. A third team might be required in that scenario if the Sixers aren’t interested in taking on salary from the Warriors. But to be clear, this is all hypothetical, since no other details on the talks have been reported so far.
Celtics Sign Xavier Tillman To Two-Year Deal
7:08pm: Tillman has officially re-signed with the Celtics, the club confirmed in a press release.
“When we got Xavier at the trade deadline, he came with the reputation of a winner and great teammate,” president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said in a statement. “Xavier is a hard worker who brings grit, toughness, and a team-first mentality that we appreciate. We are excited that Xavier has chosen to come back to the Celtics.”
4:04pm: Another free agent center is returning to Boston, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that Xavier Tillman has agreed to a two-year deal with the Celtics. It’ll be a fully guaranteed minimum-salary contract, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter links).
Tillman is the third Celtics free agent big man to reach a contract agreement with the team since the start of free agency, joining teammates Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta. Thirteen of the 15 players who finished the 2023/24 season on the Celtics’ standard roster now appear poised to return for ’24/25, with only Svi Mykhailiuk and Oshae Brissett unsigned.
Tillman spent his first three-and-a-half seasons in Memphis before being sent to the Celtics at February’s trade deadline. The 25-year-old didn’t see a ton of action down the stretch in Boston, averaging 4.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.0 assist in 13.7 minutes per contest across 20 regular season appearances. He then logged just 69 total playoff minutes during the team’s title run.
Still, Tillman is a solid interior defender showed in Memphis that he was capable of playing a slightly larger role than the one he had in Boston.
While the Celtics will have no shortage of frontcourt options with Kornet and Queta also returning, Kristaps Porzingis is expected to miss at least the first month or two of the season while recovering from leg surgery and the team won’t want to lean too heavily on Al Horford, so there will be minutes available.
Scotto’s Latest: Markkanen, Achiuwa, Knicks, Kessler, Vucevic, Sixers
The expectation around the NBA, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, is that the Jazz will only seriously consider trading Lauri Markkanen if they receive a huge offer similar in value to the one Brooklyn got for Mikal Bridges, which included four unprotected first-round picks, an unprotected first-round swap, and one more lightly protected first-rounder.
The decision on Markkanen is viewed as an inflection point for the Jazz, who could accelerate their timeline by trying to find another star to join him in Utah or extend their timeline by moving the star forward and continuing to stockpile assets ahead of a loaded 2025 draft.
In addition to confirming the four teams previously reported to have interest in Markkanen (the Warriors, Spurs, Kings, and Timberwolves), Scotto adds the Pelicans to the list of potential suitors for the star forward. However, he says New Orleans has been reluctant to discuss valuable young role players like Trey Murphy and Herbert Jones.
Brandon Ingram, the most obvious trade candidate on the Pelicans’ roster, wouldn’t be a logical target for Utah in a Markkanen trade. New Orleans is including a pair of first-round picks in its deal for Dejounte Murray but could still offer as many as four first-rounders (2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031) in a package for a player like Markkanen.
Here’s more from Scotto:
- Unrestricted free agent Precious Achiuwa – who is drawing interest from multiple contenders, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv – liked playing in New York and remains open to re-signing with the Knicks, Scotto writes. The Knicks’ search for help at center has also involved making trade calls to the Jazz about Walker Kessler and the Hornets about Nick Richards, according to Scotto, who says rival executives think the Jazz are more willing to listen to inquiries on Kessler than they would’ve been a year ago.
- With DeMar DeRozan seemingly on the verge of leaving Chicago, there’s a belief around the league that the Bulls may look to trade Nikola Vucevic and make the roster even younger, league sources tell Scotto.
- Providing several Sixers-related updates, Scotto says Philadelphia is expected to either trade or waive Paul Reed and his $7.7MM non-guaranteed contract, has exploratory trade interest in Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith, and wants to add more shooting and guard depth, with Lester Quinones and Kyle Lowry among the players on its radar. Additionally, second-round pick Adem Bona is expected to get a standard contract and a place on the 76ers’ 15-man roster, Scotto reports.
Kemba Walker Announces Retirement
Veteran NBA guard Kemba Walker announced today (via Instagram) that he has decided to retire as a professional basketball player.
“I want to start this by thanking God for everything he has given me. Basketball has done more for me than I could’ve ever imagined, and I am super thankful for the amazing journey I’ve had,” Walker said in his announcement. “With that, I’m here to share that I am officially retiring from the game of basketball. This has all been a dream. When I look back, I still can’t believe the things I achieved in my career.
“… Basketball will forever be a part of my life so this isn’t goodbye,” he added. “I’m excited for what’s next.”
The ninth overall pick in the 2011 draft, Walker became the Hornets‘ full-time starting point guard in his second NBA season and maintained that role through the 2018/19 campaign, earning three All-Star berths and averaging 19.8 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game across 605 total regular season games during his time in Charlotte.
Walker left the Hornets for the Celtics during the 2019 offseason and made another All-Star game during his first year in Boston. However, knee issues slowed him down well before the expiration of his four-year, maximum-salary contract with the Celtics. He was traded during the 2021 offseason to the Thunder, who bought him out.
Walker subsequently appeared in 37 games with his hometown Knicks in 2021/22 and nine contests with the Mavericks in ’22/23 before playing for AS Monaco in the EuroLeague in his final professional season in ’23/24.
Walker still holds numerous franchise records in Charlotte. He’s the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with over 12,000 points and has more made three-pointers (1,283) than any other player in team history.
The 34-year-old also won an NCAA title with UConn in 2011 and made an All-NBA third team during his last year as a Hornet in 2019.
Latest On DeMar DeRozan
There’s mutual interest between the Heat and free agent forward DeMar DeRozan, a pair of sources with knowledge of the situation tell Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
DeRozan is one of the top players left on the marketplace, having come in at No. 6 in our list of top 50 free agents. He led the NBA in total minutes played in 2023/24, averaging 24.0 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game with a shooting line of .480/.333/.853.
Despite the mutual interest, there’s not a clear path for Miami to offer DeRozan the sort of contract he’s seeking. As Jackson and Chiang write, the Heat are currently a first-apron team, so the best they could do would be the $5.2MM taxpayer mid-level exception. A sign-and-trade deal isn’t an impossibility, but it would require them to shed salary, since a team that acquires a player via sign-and-trade becomes hard-capped at the first apron, so it could get complicated.
DeRozan isn’t expected to return to the Bulls, but Jackson and Chiang hear that “several” teams remain in play for the six-time All-Star. One of those clubs is the Lakers, as we previously relayed. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed L.A.’s interest during a SportsCenter appearance on Tuesday (YouTube link), but reiterated that it won’t be easy for the Lakers and other over-the-cap suitors to negotiate a sign-and-trade deal.
“I think there’s interest in DeMar DeRozan, but the kind of contract that he might want just is not going to be available,” Wojnarowski said. “It’s not left out there in the marketplace. The Bulls are more than willing to work on a sign-and-trade agreement to get him the years and money that he might want, but with the new salary cap rules, those are much more difficult for teams to do.
“… In DeMar DeRozan’s case, and it may not be as appealing to him, but it may look like a one-year deal somewhere, let the market reset next year. Because if you do a sign-and-trade, it’s got to be at least three years and now you’re locked into a three-year deal at a number you may not like.”
DeRozan’s free agency this summer is somewhat reminiscent of his 2021 free agency. When he hit the market three years ago, teams like the Lakers and Clippers were viewed as suitors but didn’t have the financial means to make him a competitive offer. It briefly looked like he might accept a discount to return to his hometown, but he ultimately landed with the Bulls on a three-year, $82MM deal via sign-and-trade.
It seems less likely this time around that a suitor will emerge to make DeRozan a huge three-year offer. Still, it’s worth noting that settling for a one-year contract in the hopes of securing a larger payday next summer – as Woj suggests – would be risky move for a player who will turn 35 next month.
Second-Round Pick Exception Details For 2024/25
As we outlined last summer when it was introduced as a new addition to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the second-round pick exception allows NBA teams to sign their second-round picks to standard contracts without requiring cap room or another exception (such as the mid-level) to do so.
Like the rookie scale exception, the second-round pick exception isn’t limited to a single use. It can be deployed as many times as needed in a given league year.
The second-round exception can be used to sign a player to either a three-year contract that includes a third-year team option or a four-year contract that features a fourth-year team option.
Teams made good use of the new exception right away last season. Of the 15 second-round picks in the 2023 draft who didn’t sign two-way contracts and who didn’t remain overseas for the year, 14 were signed using the second-round exception. The 15th, Tristan Vukcevic, didn’t sign until March, at which point the Wizards used a piece of the mid-level exception to give him a higher first-year salary than the second-round exception would’ve allowed for.
The values of the second-round pick exception change every year along with the NBA’s minimum salary scale, so with this year’s second-rounders starting to sign, it’s worth updating the numbers from the article we published a year ago to ensure they’re accurate for 2024/25.
Here are the details for ’24/25:
Three-year deal
- The first year can be worth up to the minimum salary for a player with one year of NBA experience.
- The second and third years are worth the second- and third-year minimum salaries for a rookie.
- The third year is a team option.
As our chart of minimum salaries shows, in 2024/25, the maximum three-year salary for a contract with this structure would be about $6.1MM. Here’s the year-by-year breakdown (option year in italics):
| Year | Salary |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | $1,862,265 |
| 2025/26 | $1,955,377 |
| 2026/27 | $2,296,271 |
| Total | $6,113,913 |
While the second- and third-year salaries will remain static in any three-year contract signed using the second-round exception, the first season can be as low as the rookie minimum ($1,157,153). For instance, Heat second-rounder Pelle Larsson reportedly signed a contract that begins at that number, so the overall value of his deal is about $5.4MM.
Four-year deal
- The first year can be worth up to the minimum salary for a player with two years of NBA experience.
- The second year can be worth up to the second-year minimum salary for a player with one year of experience.
- The third and fourth years are worth the third- and fourth-year minimum salaries for a rookie.
- The fourth year is a team option.
In 2024/25, the maximum four-year salary for a contract with this structure would be over $9MM. Here’s what it looks like from year to year (option year in italics):
| Year | Salary |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | $2,087,519 |
| 2025/26 | $2,191,897 |
| 2026/27 | $2,296,271 |
| 2027/28 | $2,486,995 |
| Total | $9,062,682 |
As with the first year of the three-year deal, the first two seasons of the four-year contract don’t necessarily have to start this high. They could be as low as $1,157,153 for year one and $1,955,377 for year two. That’s what Bronny James‘ contract with the Lakers will look like, for example, meaning his deal will be worth a total of about $7.9MM instead of $9MM+.
In any deal that uses this four-year contract structure, the salary increase between the first and second season can’t exceed 5% if the second season is above the minimum. For instance, a team wouldn’t be permitted to negotiate a contract that starts at the rookie minimum ($1,157,153) and jumps to $2,100,000 in year two.
Players who are signed using the second-round pick exception don’t count against a team’s cap between July 1 and July 30 of their first season.
That rule allows teams to preserve all the cap room they need until July 31 without having to worry about their second-rounders cutting into it, as well as positioning those players to sign their first NBA contracts before taking part in Summer League games.