Sixers Pick Up 2022/23 Options On Thybulle, Maxey
The Sixers have picked up their 2022/23 team options on forward Matisse Thybulle and guard Tyrese Maxey, the team announced today in a press release.
Thybulle, 24, hasn’t done much offensively since entering the league as the No. 20 overall pick in 2019, averaging just 4.3 PPG across 135 games. However, he’s a key contributor on the other side of the ball, having been named to the All-Defensive Second Team in 2020/21. His fourth-year option for ’22/23 will pay him $4,379,527.
Maxey, the 21st overall pick in the 2020 draft, has been forced into starting point guard duty in his second NBA season due to Ben Simmons‘ absence. He’s still finding his footing, but has put up respectable averages of 14.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 3.6 APG in five games (33.0 MPG). His third-year option for ’22/23 is worth $2,726,880.
Thybulle will be extension-eligible during the 2022 offseason, while the 76ers will still have to make one more team-option decision on Maxey for the 2023/24 season.
All of this year’s ’22/23 rookie scale option decisions, which are due on Monday, can be found right here.
Hornets’ Bridges Increasing Value After Not Signing Extension
After earning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors based on his performance through the Hornets‘ three games, Miles Bridges hasn’t fallen off at all during his last two contests. The fourth-year forward is averaging 26.2 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 1.8 SPG with a shooting line of .527/.395/.909 through five games (35.2 MPG).
While it’s very early and Bridges almost certainly won’t maintain that pace, he was nearly a 50/40/90 shooter last season and seems capable of handling an increase in usage without his efficiency taking a major hit. As Zach Lowe of ESPN writes, Bridges is poised to become a “better offensive player – and sooner – than even the Hornets anticipated.” If Charlotte had expected this from the 23-year-old, Lowe adds, the team would’ve made a stronger push to lock him up to a rookie scale extension earlier this month.
Discussing Bridges’ impressive play on his Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that the Hornets’ initial extension offer to Bridges was in the range of $15MM per year.
“When he was in negotiations for his extension, I’m told that the Hornets’ baseline offer was four years, $60MM,” Windhorst said. “… That was Charlotte’s baseline offer. They may have come up, but they were never really close.”
As Windhorst points out, once three-and-D forward Mikal Bridges signed a four-year, $90MM rookie scale extension with the Suns, there was no chance the Hornets were going to be able to lock up their own Bridges for anything in the neighborhood of $60MM. In fact, if the former Michigan State standout can maintain anything close to his current pace, he could match or exceed Mikal’s $90MM on his next deal.
It’s too late for the Hornets to sign Bridges to a rookie scale extension, but the club will be in the driver’s seat when he reaches restricted free agency next summer. There won’t be many teams with the cap room available to make Bridges an aggressive offer, and the Hornets – who have a relatively clean cap sheet going forward – would be able to match any offer sheet he signs. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the young forward this season to see just how high he can boost his value ahead of his looming free agency.
Highest-Paid NBA Players By Team
On Thursday, we listed the top 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2021/22 season. Although that list presented a clear picture of the highest earners for the current season, not every NBA team was represented. Four of the league’s 30 franchises – the Spurs, Pistons, Grizzlies, and Thunder – didn’t have a single player in the top 50.
Our list of highest-paid players for 2021/22 also only provided a snapshot for this year. For example, Gary Harris, who cracked the top 50, will be well compensated for the coming season but is on an expiring contract and will almost certainly fall off that list next year.
Today, we’re shifting our focus to the highest-paid players by team. This will allow us to check in on the clubs that weren’t represented on our initial list, as well as identifying some of the league’s most lucrative multiyear commitments — we’ve included each club’s highest-paid player for the 2021/22 season and its highest-paid player in total.
Let’s dive in…
Atlanta Hawks
2021/22: John Collins ($23,000,000)- Total: Trae Young (six years, $180,826,471)
- Note: The amount owed to Young would increase to $215,386,471 if he makes an All-NBA team in 2022. The value of his maximum-salary extension is based on a projected $119MM salary cap for 2022/23. Young’s final year is a player option.
- Note: The amount owed to Young would increase to $215,386,471 if he makes an All-NBA team in 2022. The value of his maximum-salary extension is based on a projected $119MM salary cap for 2022/23. Young’s final year is a player option.
Boston Celtics
- 2021/22: Jayson Tatum ($28,103,500)
- Total: Jayson Tatum (five years, $163,000,300)
Brooklyn Nets
- 2021/22: James Harden ($44,310,840)
- Total: Kevin Durant (five years, $239,675,808)
- Note: Durant’s five-year earnings include $233,423,808 in base salaries and $6,252,000 in likely incentives.
Charlotte Hornets
- 2021/22: Gordon Hayward ($29,925,000)
- Total: Terry Rozier (five years, $114,163,957)
- Note: A small amount ($1,718,905) of Rozier’s fifth-year salary is non-guaranteed.
- Note: A small amount ($1,718,905) of Rozier’s fifth-year salary is non-guaranteed.
Chicago Bulls
- 2021/22: DeMar DeRozan ($26,000,000)
- Total: DeMar DeRozan (three years, $81,900,000)
Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2021/22: Kevin Love ($31,258,256)
- Total: Jarrett Allen (five years, $100,000,000)
Dallas Mavericks
- 2021/22: Kristaps Porzingis ($31,650,600)
- Total: Luka Doncic (six years, $217,234,391)
- Note: Doncic’s final year is a player option.
Denver Nuggets
- 2021/22: Nikola Jokic ($31,579,390)
- Note: Jokic’s cap hit includes a $30,510,423 base salary and $1,068,967 in likely incentives.
- Total: Michael Porter Jr. (six years, $177,758,735)
- Note: The amount owed to Porter could get as high as $212,318,735 if he makes an All-NBA team in 2022. The value of his maximum-salary extension is based on a projected $119MM salary cap for 2022/23. Porter’s final year is only partially guaranteed for $12MM.
- Note: The amount owed to Porter could get as high as $212,318,735 if he makes an All-NBA team in 2022. The value of his maximum-salary extension is based on a projected $119MM salary cap for 2022/23. Porter’s final year is only partially guaranteed for $12MM.
Detroit Pistons
- 2021/22: Jerami Grant ($20,002,500)
- Total: Cade Cunningham (four years, $45,599,089)
- Note: Cunningham’s third and fourth years are team options. Grant has the most total guaranteed money (two years, $40,957,500) of any Piston.
- Note: Cunningham’s third and fourth years are team options. Grant has the most total guaranteed money (two years, $40,957,500) of any Piston.
Golden State Warriors
- 2021/22: Stephen Curry ($45,780,966)
- Total: Stephen Curry (five years, $261,134,628)
2021/22: Amir Johnson, Pooh Jeter Among G League Ignite Vets For 2021/22
Big men Amir Johnson and Jessie Govan are returning to the G League Ignite for a second season, and they’ll be joined by forward Malik Pope and guards Dakarai Allen, Amauri Hardy, and Pooh Jeter, our JD Shaw relays (via Twitter).
The Ignite is the G League’s developmental program for top prospects, but those young players are complemented by a handful of NBA and NBAGL vets who fill out the roster and serve as mentors.
Among this year’s group, Johnson is the only one with extensive NBA experience, having appeared in 870 total games for the Pistons, Raptors, Celtics, and Sixers from 2005-19. He averaged 8.5 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 15 games (13.3 MPG) for the Ignite last season.
Jeter, who will turn 38 in December, played in 62 games for Sacramento back in 2010/11, but has spent most of his professional career overseas.
Allen and Pope, who went undrafted out of San Diego State in 2017 and 2018, respectively, have multiple years of G League experience between them, and Pope has also played in Greece and Germany as well.
Hardy, meanwhile, went undrafted out of Oregon earlier this year and presumably earned a spot on the team in large part because his brother Jaden Hardy, a projected top-five pick in 2022, is the Ignite’s top recruit this year.
Besides Jaden Hardy, who is ESPN’s No. 3 ranked prospect for the 2022 draft, the Ignite roster features Dyson Daniels (No. 16), Michael Foster (No. 31), MarJon Beauchamp (No. 53), Chinese forward Fanbo Zeng (not in ESPN’s top 100), and 17-year-old Scoot Henderson (not draft-eligible until 2023). ESPN’s Mike Schmitz (Insider link) shared his thoughts on this year’s roster ahead of the Ignite’s preseason debut on Friday night vs. Iowa.
The Ignite won’t be part of the standard G League regular season that runs from December to April, but the club will compete in the NBAGL’s inaugural “Showcase Cup,” a tournament which tips off on November 5 and ends just before Christmas.
Eastern Notes: Harden, Gafford, Simmons, Barnes
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday about his slow start to the season, Nets guard James Harden explained that he’s still shaking off the rust since he didn’t get to play much during an offseason that was mostly spent rehabbing his hamstring injury.
“I had no opportunities to play pickup or nothing this summer,” Harden said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Everything was rehab for three months, from a Grade 2 injury that happened three times in one season. So this is my fifth game of trying to just play with competition against somebody else. And as much as I want to rush the process and be back to hooping and killing, (you have to) take your time.”
Harden, who has rarely had to deal with injuries since entering the league in 2009, admitted it was “frustrating” and “draining” to battle the hamstring issue down the stretch last season and over the summer. However, he said that he thinks he’s “getting better every single game.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Wizards center Daniel Gafford appears to have avoided a major injury after undergoing an MRI on his right quad contusion. Head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said on Thursday that he expects Gafford to be back in a mater of days, not weeks (Twitter link via Ava Wallace of The Washington Post).
- There’s no set timeline for Ben Simmons, who told the Sixers last Friday that he’s not yet mentally ready to play, but he has been at the team’s practice facility during the last week, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He’s been working out,” head coach Doc Rivers said on Thursday. “Today he was at shootaround, did a lot of shooting and a lot of stuff with (skills development coach) Spencer (Rivers).”
- With the Raptors set to face the Magic for the first time this season on Friday, the Scottie Barnes/Jalen Suggs debate has resurfaced, but fans in Toronto have to be happy with what they’ve seen from Barnes so far, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Barnes, whom the Raptors picked over Suggs at No. 4 in this year’s draft, has averaged 17.0 PPG and 8.2 RPG on 53.7% shooting in his first five NBA games while taking on some challenging defensive assignments.
Heat Notes: Morris, Garrett, Martin, Haslem
After being used mostly as a floor-spacing big man with the Lakers over the last couple seasons, Markieff Morris is happy he’s getting more opportunities to operate inside the three-point arc with the Heat this season, says Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“I’m finally back to basically where I had success at in the league early in my career,” Morris said this week. “For me personally, the game has changed a lot from when I first came in to now. Over here, these guys are doing a great job of letting me just play my game, and they’re playing to my strengths.”
Morris, who said he played a bit of a “one-dimensional” role in Los Angeles, averaged 3.4 three-point attempts and 2.8 two-pointers per game last season. So far this season, he’s attempting 2.3 threes and 5.3 two-pointers per contest.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- With G League training camps underway, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said the plan is for Marcus Garrett to spend plenty of time with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s NBAGL affiliate, this season, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. However, the team’s other two-way player, Caleb Martin, is less likely to be sent on assignments to Sioux Falls, since Spoelstra views him as a “plug-and-play guy” for the Heat.
- Asked why he decided to re-sign with the Heat again this summer, Udonis Haslem told Tyler R. Tynes of GQ that he believes he can inspire young players fighting to earn their place in the NBA. “I coulda quit a long time ago. But there’s (always) been another guy that comes in that reminds me of me: that wants an opportunity, that needs an opportunity, that deserves an opportunity,” Haslem said. “Every year I can find another Udonis Haslem that walks in that locker room. And I’m re-inspired and re-energized. I still have game to give. I still have my passion. I see those guys walk in the locker room and I’m just reborn again. It goes to the Bam Adebayos and Tyler Johnsons and the habits we create in this organization.”
- Within an extensive conversation with Tynes, Haslem discussed “Heat Culture,” the team’s Big Three era, and the evolution of his role in the locker room over the years. The veteran big man, who is in his 19th season, also suggested that he’d like to play one more season beyond 2021/22: “If I can get 20 years, it’ll be an amazing career for a kid that no one thought would play in the league. All my sacrifices, everything I’ve given, the only thing I’ve asked for is to try to get to 20. I wanna give that to myself, and I wanted to give it to my father (who recently passed away).”
2021 NBA Offseason In Review: Orlando Magic
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Orlando Magic.
Free agent signings:
Note: Exhibit 9 and 10 deals aren’t included here.
- Robin Lopez: One year, $5MM. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Moritz Wagner: Two years, minimum salary. Second year non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- E’Twaun Moore: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Ignas Brazdeikis: Two-way contract.
Trades:
- Acquired the Pistons’ 2026 second-round pick and cash from the Clippers in exchange for the draft rights to Jason Preston (No. 33 pick).
Draft picks:
- 1-5: Jalen Suggs
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $29,955,705).
- 1-8: Franz Wagner
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $22,781,932).
Contract extensions:
- Wendell Carter Jr.: Four years, $50,000,000. Starts in 2022/23.
Departing players:
Other offseason news:
- Hired Jamahl Mosley as head coach to replace Steve Clifford.
- Hired Nate Tibbetts, Jesse Mermuys, Dale Osbourne, Bret Brielmaier, and Lionel Chalmers as assistant coaches; lost assistants Tyrone Corbin, Pat Delany, Steve Hetzel, and Michael Batiste.
- Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz continue to recover from ACL tears and are sidelined to start the season.
- Michael Carter-Williams is recovering from ankle surgery and is sidelined to start the season.
- Chuma Okeke is dealing with a bone bruise in his hip and is sidelined to start the season.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap and below the tax line.
- Carrying approximately $113.7MM in salary.
- $4,536,000 of non-taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($5MM used on Robin Lopez).
- Full bi-annual exception ($3,732,000) still available.
- Three traded player exception available, including one worth $17.2MM.
The Magic’s offseason:
A whirlwind 2021 trade deadline paved the way for the Magic to have a relatively quiet offseason. Back in March, Orlando decided to launch a full-scale rebuild and finalized three separate trades that sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago, Aaron Gordon to Denver, and Evan Fournier to Boston.
That type of roster overhaul is more common during the summer than midway through the season, but the Magic had been hit hard by injuries and had lost 27 of 35 games leading up to the deadline after winning six of eight to open the year. They weren’t going to make the playoffs and they were in a position to be one of the league’s few major in-season sellers, so they struck early.
That decisiveness allowed the Magic to perhaps extract more for Vucevic than they would’ve if they’d taken a more patient approach. When the Bulls sent their top-four protected 2021 first-rounder to Orlando in the package for the standout center, they were presumably counting on grabbing one of the last couple playoff spots in the East and sacrificing a pick in the 15-16 range. Instead, Chicago struggled down the stretch and had to convey the No. 8 overall pick to the Magic.
The Magic’s draft luck continued when, despite having their own pick land at No. 5 in the lottery, they were able to land one of the consensus top-four prospects in the 2021 class. Toronto surprised observers by snagging Scottie Barnes at No. 4, allowing Jalen Suggs to slip to Orlando.
Whether Suggs will turn out to be a better pro than Barnes remains to be seen, but the former Gonzaga guard was the higher-ranked player on most experts’ – and, by all accounts, most teams’ – draft boards. The Magic likely could’ve extracted a significant price from a club interested in trading up for Suggs, so staying put and selecting him – even with point guards Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony already locked up for the next three years – is a good indication they’re high on his potential.
Orlando used its second lottery pick (courtesy of the Bulls) to select Michigan’s Franz Wagner, a talented young forward who looks capable of becoming an impact player on both sides of the ball. The idea of pairing Wagner with Jonathan Isaac – once Isaac gets healthy – and letting the two young forwards loose on the defensive end is a tantalizing one.
While adding Suggs and Wagner were the Magic’s major moves of the summer, the team also decided to invest long-term in Wendell Carter after acquiring the former Bulls big man in the Vucevic trade. The price Orlando paid – $50MM over four years – suggests the team is confident the former Duke standout can continue to improve after putting up pretty similar numbers in each of his first three seasons.
Even if Carter plateaus, the contract will never be an albatross. Its descending structure means it will be worth just $10.85MM by its final year in 2025/26, making it a good trade chip if WCJ is no longer in Orlando’s plans by then.
The Magic were relatively quiet on the trade market and made just a couple free agent additions, bringing in steady veterans Robin Lopez and E’Twaun Moore on inexpensive one-year contracts. Lopez, in particular, is a heady player who will be able to impart plenty of knowledge on young big men Carter and Mohamed Bamba over the course of the season.
Orlando’s offseason was ultimately defined by the rookies it added, both on and off the court — besides drafting Suggs and Wagner, the team hired first-time head coach Jamahl Mosley to replace Steve Clifford. Mosley gained a strong reputation for player development during his time in Dallas under Rick Carlisle and will be tasked with guiding a young Magic team through the toughest stage of its rebuild. The losses will come early and often for Mosley, but if guys like Suggs, Wagner, Fultz, and Isaac are improving under his tutelage, he’ll be doing his job.
The Magic’s season:
The Eastern Conference will be competitive this season, with 12 or 13 teams eyeing a playoff berth or at least a play-in spot. The odds of the Magic joining that group are slim — they and the Pistons are good bets to occupy the 14th and 15th spots in the conference, in some order.
Still, there are some intriguing building blocks here, especially once the team gets healthier. Suggs, Wagner, Carter, Fultz, Isaac, Bamba, Anthony, Chuma Okeke, and R.J. Hampton aren’t all future stars, but there’s plenty of untapped upside in that group, and the Magic have the ability to add a few more assets to their collection by trading Terrence Ross at some point in the coming months.
There’s a long way to go before the Magic will be talking about contending again, but the rebuild has taken a good first step or two this year.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.
Bulls Name Joakim Noah Team Ambassador
Joakim Noah, who will be honored by the Bulls during Thursday night’s game vs. the Knicks, has been named a “Bulls Ambassador,” the team announced in a press release. According to the club, Noah will work with the organization to “build relationships with people throughout Chicago and across Bulls Nation.”
“I’m truly humbled to be honored by both the team and city that I have always loved and respected,” Noah said in a statement. “Even more so to be able to celebrate tonight with family, friends, former players and coaches, and most of all – the Bulls fans who helped drive my energy throughout my years in a Bulls uniform at the United Center. It means so much to me that I’m now a Bull for life. I love you all and am thrilled tonight to solidify my continued connection with the Bulls and the city of Chicago, in this new chapter of my life.”
The ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft, Noah spent the first nine seasons of his 13-year NBA career in Chicago. Although he never averaged more than 12.6 PPG in a season, he was a difference-maker for the Bulls, earning three All-Defensive nods and two All-Star appearances.
Noah’s best year came in 2013/14, when he was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and was voted to the All-NBA First Team. The Bulls made the playoffs in seven consecutive years during his time with the team, appearing in the Eastern Finals once. Noah announced his retirement earlier this year.
Noah’s ambassador role sounds like a fairly casual one, focused primarily on fan outreach. However, if he has interest in transitioning into coaching or a front office position in the future, I imagine the Bulls would be open to accommodating him.
Community Shootaround: Slow Starters
Entering the 2021/22 season, the Lakers and Nets were widely viewed as the frontrunners to reach the NBA Finals. When ESPN polled 16 of its NBA experts on predictions for the coming season, 10 picked the Lakers to win the West and 10 chose the Nets to win the East.
So far though, Los Angeles and Brooklyn have been inconsistent and underwhelming, posting matching 2-3 records. The Lakers lost two home games to open the season, then blew a 26-point lead in Oklahoma City on Wednesday against the winless Thunder. The Nets, meanwhile, have lost three games by double-digits — one in Milwaukee and two at home, vs. the Hornets and Heat.
It’s far, far too early for either team to panic. LeBron James has missed two games for the Lakers and James Harden is still working his way back from a hamstring injury for the Nets. And with the exception of the Lakers’ disaster in OKC, both teams’ losses so far have come against pretty tough opponents.
Still, the early-season results can’t be written off entirely. James has been increasingly affected by injuries in recent years — if that trend continues this season, it’ll have a significant impact on a top-heavy Lakers team. The club acquired Russell Westbrook over the summer in part to have another star available when James or Anthony Davis miss time, but Westbrook has gotten off to a shaky start in L.A., averaging just 17.8 PPG (his lowest mark since 2009/10) and turning the ball over six times per game. His fit on this Lakers roster was an open question entering the season, and it doesn’t seem as if the team has fully figured it out.
As for the Nets, the impact of Kyrie Irving‘s absence shouldn’t be understated. Brooklyn is supposed to have one of the best offenses in league history, but through five games, the club’s offensive rating is an ugly 100.6 — only Detroit and New Orleans have been worse. Harden expects to be back to his old self soon, but he’s certainly not benefiting from the NBA’s reduction on foul calls when offensive players go out of their way to initiate contact.
Again, it’s too early for a sub-.500 record to be a major concern for either of these teams, whose rosters are heavy on star power and veteran experience. But the expectations in Los Angeles and Brooklyn are high. Anything less than an NBA Finals appearance will be a letdown, so there’s not much room for error.
Many of the NBA’s other sub-.500 teams aren’t surprising, but the Celtics (2-3), Pacers (1-4), Suns (1-3), and Clippers (1-3) certainly would’ve hoped for better starts.
We want to know what you think. Is it still too early to draw any conclusions about any of this season’s slow starters? Or has some of what you’ve seen from the Lakers, the Nets, or other sub-.500 clubs made you skeptical of their ability to meet preseason expectations?
And-Ones: M. Gasol, Leunen, B. Ferry, Overtime Elite
After big man Ekpe Udoh suffered a serious knee injury last month, Virtus Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo reached out to Marc Gasol to gauge his interest in joining the Italian club, Scariolo confirmed this week on Italian Twitch channel Area 52 (video link). As Marc Stein of Substack relays (via Twitter), Scariolo said Gasol turned him down in an “elegant way.”
Scariolo coached Gasol on the Spanish national team and as an assistant in Toronto, so he has an existing relationship with the veteran center. However, Gasol – who was traded to Memphis and then waived in September – appears content to spend time with his family in Spain rather than joining another NBA or EuroLeague team anytime soon. There were rumors last month that Gasol would be playing for Girona, the Spanish club he owns, but that hasn’t come to fruition yet.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former Oregon forward Maarty Leunen, who spent the last 13 seasons playing overseas in various European leagues, has announced his retirement, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Leunen was the 54th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft and has had his rights traded four times since then – most recently to the Pacers in 2019 – but never signed an NBA contract.
- Former Washington Bullets general manager Bob Ferry, who ran the front office from 1973 to 1990, died at age 84 on Wednesday, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. The father of Danny Ferry, Bob Ferry won two Executive of the Year awards and helped Washington win the only title in franchise history in 1978.
- Jeremy Woo of SI.com shares his impressions of the Overtime Elite’s Pro Day, including his thoughts on the program’s three most notable 2022 draft-eligible players: guard Jean Montero, wing Kok Yat, and forward Dominick Barlow.