Mavericks Pick Up Josh Green’s 2022/23 Option
The Mavericks have picked up their 2022/23 team option on Josh Green‘s rookie scale contract, the team announced today (Twitter link).
Actually, the Mavs announced that they’ve “extended” Green’s contract, but presumably they mean they’ve exercised that third-year option, since the 2020 first-rounder isn’t extension-eligible. Exercising Green’s option guarantees his $3.1MM salary for the ’22/23 season.
The 18th pick in last year’s draft, Green appeared in 39 games for the Mavericks as a rookie, but played a limited role, averaging 2.6 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 11.4 minutes per contest. The 6’5″ shooting guard will be looking to earn more playing time on the wing this season.
With Green’s third-year option locked in, the Mavs’ next decision on the former Arizona Wildcat will come next October. Dallas will have to decide at that point whether or not to exercise his $4.8MM option for the 2023/24 season. If the club picks up that option, Green will become extension-eligible in 2023.
Rookie scale option decisions for ’22/23 are due by November 1. You can follow all those moves using our tracker.
NBA Teams With Most, Least Roster Continuity
Over the last several months, dozens of NBA players have changed teams via free agency, dozens more have entered or exited the league, and a total of 35 trades have been made. After all that offseason activity, some teams will enter the 2021/22 season looking totally different than they did in the spring, while others will look pretty similar to last season’s squads.
While roster continuity is generally perceived as a sign of stability, carrying over a significant number of players from last year’s team doesn’t necessarily give a club a leg up entering a new season.
Heading into the 2020/21 season, for instance, the Pacers, Bulls, Spurs, and Magic were among the teams with the most roster continuity, but it didn’t help them make the playoffs. The Celtics and Heat were in that group too, and both clubs underachieved. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Sixers and Bucks were among the four teams with the most roster turnover — Philadelphia claimed the No. 1 seed in the East and Milwaukee won the title.
Entering the 2021/22 campaign, the Nuggets and Kings are the two teams bringing back the most players from last year’s end-of-season rosters (including two-way players), while the Lakers are – by a wide margin – the team that experienced the most roster turnover.
The Lakers are bringing back just three players from last year’s team, while no other club retained than fewer than seven players. Perhaps the fact that so many of L.A.’s newly-added players have prior experience with the team will help ease the transition this fall — three of the players who rejoined the Lakers this offseason (Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, and Avery Bradley) were part of the team that won a title in the Orlando bubble just over a year ago.
Here’s the total number of returning players for each of the NBA’s 30 teams, from most to fewest:
- Denver Nuggets: 14
- Sacramento Kings: 13
- Atlanta Hawks: 12
Orlando Magic: 12 - Dallas Mavericks: 11
Indiana Pacers: 11
Memphis Grizzlies: 11
Miami Heat: 11
Minnesota Timberwolves: 11
Philadelphia 76ers: 11
Phoenix Suns: 11
Utah Jazz: 11 - Detroit Pistons: 10
Golden State Warriors: 10
Houston Rockets: 10
Los Angeles Clippers: 10
New York Knicks: 10
Oklahoma City Thunder: 10 - Charlotte Hornets: 9
Cleveland Cavaliers: 9
Milwaukee Bucks: 9
New Orleans Pelicans: 9
Portland Trail Blazers: 9
San Antonio Spurs: 9
Washington Wizards: 9 - Boston Celtics: 8
Toronto Raptors: 8 - Brooklyn Nets: 7 (*)
Chicago Bulls: 7
- Los Angeles Lakers: 3
* The Nets’ count includes Kyrie Irving, since he technically remains on the roster; it doesn’t include LaMarcus Aldridge, who last played for Brooklyn but didn’t finish the season with the team.
Sixers Suspend Ben Simmons For Season Opener
1:22pm: The Sixers have fined Simmons about $1.4MM for missing the team’s four preseason games and have also fined him for the various practices, workouts, and meetings he missed, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter links), who says the 25-year-old hasn’t earned any money since he returned last week.
Wojnarowski adds that Philadelphia hasn’t changed its stance about not wanting to trade Simmons for role players. Even after today’s incident, no one should expect a quick resolution, says Woj.
11:13am: The Sixers have suspended Ben Simmons for one game due to conduct detrimental to the team, the club announced today in a press release. As a result, Simmons will miss Philadelphia’s regular season opener in New Orleans on Wednesday night.
The 76ers’ announcement was light on details, but according to reports from Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links), the team handed out the suspension after Simmons was kicked out of Tuesday’s practice by head coach Doc Rivers for not being engaged. He was thrown out early in the practice when he essentially refused to participate in the next session, Woj adds (via Twitter).
“He was a distraction today,” Rivers said of Simmons, per Serena Winters (Twitter link). “I didn’t think he wanted to do what everybody else was doing. It was early, it wasn’t a big deal. I just told him, he should leave then, and we went on with practice.”
The plan had been for the 25-year-old to speak to reporters for the first time following today’s practice, but that won’t happen now, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.
Simmons, who sought a trade this offseason, was a holdout this fall and missed the first two weeks of training camp and the preseason before reporting to the Sixers last Monday. He was cleared to join the team for practices on Friday, but we still don’t know with any certainty if or when he’ll play in games. The belief is that he reported to the 76ers in order to stop losing money for missing practices and games, not because his desire to be traded has wavered in the slightest.
Tuesday’s incident certainly doesn’t bode well for the odds of the three-time All-Star suiting up anytime soon. Sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that Simmons’ reluctance to “physically and mentally engage” has been a consistent theme since he resumed practicing with the club.
Joel Embiid told reporters today that he hasn’t spoken to Simmons since he returned, according to Neubeck (Twitter links).
“At the end of the day, our job is not to babysit somebody,” Embiid said. “… I’d be willing to babysit if someone wants to listen, but that’s not my my job.”
Wizards Extend Daniel Gafford Through 2025/26
10:40am: The Wizards have officially announced Gafford’s extension, confirming the move in a press release.
“We’re very excited to extend Daniel’s contract and continue to see him develop within our system after his athleticism on both ends of the floor made such an immediate impact for us last season,” GM Tommy Sheppard said in a statement. “We are confident that he has the character and drive to keep working hard to improve his overall game and become an even bigger part of what we are building with our team.”
5:49am: The Wizards and big man Daniel Gafford agreed to a three-year contract extension late on Monday night, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that Gafford’s new contract will be worth $40.2MM.
Gafford, the 38th overall pick in the 2019 draft, spent the first year-and-a-half of his NBA career with the Bulls and played a modest role for the club, averaging 5.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in 74 contests (13.4 MPG). He was sent to the Wizards in a three-team deal at the 2021 trade deadline.
In D.C., Gafford enjoyed a mini-breakout in 23 games down the stretch, putting up 10.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 1.8 BPG in just 17.7 minutes per contest. Although the Wizards acquired Montrezl Harrell in the offseason and will be getting Thomas Bryant back from his ACL tear this winter, the team envisions the athletic Gafford playing a key rotation role at the five.
Gafford’s minimum-salary contract pays him approximately $1.78MM this season and includes a $1.93MM team option for the 2022/23 season. According to Charania (Twitter link), the new deal will run through the ’25/26 season, which suggests Gafford’s option for next season is being exercised as part of the agreement, with the new deal going into effect in ’23/24.
Monday was the last day for extension-eligible players with multiple years left on their current deals to sign new contracts. Since Gafford’s option is being picked up, he fits that bill, which is why he and the Wizards had to beat the clock late last night. If they hadn’t finalized an extension on Monday, Gafford wouldn’t have been eligible to sign a new contract until the 2022 offseason.
A player signing a veteran contract extension is typically eligible to receive up to a 20% raise on the salary in the final year of his current contract. However, someone like Gafford, who is earning a smaller salary, can sign an extension that starts at up to 20% of the NBA’s “estimated average salary” in the year which the extension is signed. This year’s estimated average salary is $10.335MM, so a 20% bump to that figure would get Gafford a starting salary of about $12.4MM and a three-year total in excess of $40MM, assuming 8% annual raises.
Cap/Contract Notes: Taxpayers, Allen, Carter, Shamet, Gafford
Now that all 30 regular season rosters have been set, 10 teams project to be taxpayers, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Jazz, Sixers, Celtics, Trail Blazers, and Raptors are currently over the luxury tax threshold.
Some of those teams are in better shape than others. While the Warriors ($159.9MM) and Nets ($110.4MM) project to have nine-figure tax bills, the Raptors are barely into tax territory and should be able to sneak below the line, perhaps by waiving one of their two players who have partially guaranteed deals.
Besides Golden State and Brooklyn, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Jazz all have projected tax bills exceeding $33MM, according to Marks. The Sixers, Celtics, Blazers, and Raptors would owe less than $8MM each based on the current numbers.
Of course, these numbers can and will change over the course of the season as teams make roster moves, since tax bills are determined by the team’s year-end salary. For now though, the 20 non-taxpayers project to receive year-end payments of $12.7MM, Marks notes.
Here are a few more cap- and contract-related notes from around the NBA:
- Grayson Allen‘s two-year extension with the Bucks features a base value of $17MM ($8.5MM per year) in guaranteed money, plus incentives, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The exact value of the incentives is $1.275MM annually, Hoops Rumors has learned. Currently, those are a mix of likely and unlikely bonuses, but since the deal doesn’t begin until 2022/23, those likely/unlikely designations will ultimately be based on what happens this coming season.
- Wendell Carter Jr.‘s four-year extension with the Magic has a descending structure, Scotto tweets. It starts at $14.15MM in year one and dips to $10.85MM by year four. The deal is fully guaranteed, with no options.
- In addition to having a team option on its fourth year, Landry Shamet‘s extension with the Suns has a non-guaranteed salary in year three, Hoops Rumors has learned. The last two years both have June 29 trigger dates, in 2024 and 2025. Only $19.75MM of Shamet’s $42.5MM deal is fully guaranteed for now.
- Daniel Gafford‘s three-year extension with the Wizards doesn’t include any options or incentives, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.
Salary Guarantee Dates For Raptors’ Dekker, Bonga Pushed To Nov. 6
Raptors forwards Sam Dekker and Isaac Bonga earned spots on the team’s opening-night roster, but their minimum salaries won’t become fully guaranteed quite yet. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), both players have agreed to push back their salary guarantee dates to November 6. The two contracts were originally set to become guaranteed today.
Players whose contracts are non-guaranteed are typically paid by the day until their guarantee date, but Dekker has a $350K partial guarantee on his full-season salary of $1,789,256, while Bonga’s $1,729,217 salary includes a partial guarantee of $200K. That means the first 20 days of Bonga’s season are already covered by his partial guarantee, while Dekker’s partial guarantee covers the first 35 days of the season.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that November 6 is the 19th day of the NBA season, meaning the Raptors won’t be on the hook for any extra money for either Dekker or Bonga up until that date. If either player is waived on November 6, he’d still just be owed the amount of his partial guarantee. In essence, Toronto is extending the competition for the 14th roster spot by another few weeks.
It’s possible the Raptors could opt to keep both Dekker and Bonga beyond November 6, fully guaranteeing both of their salaries for 2021/22. However, it seems somewhat unlikely, since doing so would put the team over the tax line, as Marks notes (via Twitter).
Additionally, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca observes (via Twitter), the Raptors hope to have a healthier roster by early November. Yuta Watanabe (calf) and Chris Boucher (finger) may be back by that point, with Pascal Siakam (shoulder) getting closer to a return. That would reduce the need to carry a 15th man.
Dekker, a 2015 first-round pick who has been out of the NBA since the end of the 2018/19 season, spent time in Russia and Turkey before getting an opportunity with Toronto. Bonga signed with the Raptors this summer after spending his first three seasons with the Lakers and Wizards. He started 49 games for Washington in 2019/20, but saw his role cut back significantly last season.
2021 NBA Rookie Scale Extension Recap
The NBA’s annual deadline for rookie scale contract extensions passed on Monday, officially bringing a record-setting extension period to an end. In total, 11 players eligible for rookie scale extensions signed new contracts this year, which is a new record, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Those deals were worth in excess of $1.1 billion, also a record, Marks adds.
We’ve seen an uptick in rookie scale extensions in recent years, but 2021 still represents an impressive high water-mark, narrowly edging out the 10 rookie scale extensions that were completed a year ago. Prior to 2020, the last time as many as 10 rookie scale extensions were completed in a single league year was back in 2006, when players like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh were signing their second NBA contracts.
Here’s a breakdown of the 11 rookie scale extensions signed before this year’s deadline, sorted by total value. In cases where we haven’t yet seen the official contract terms for the extension, we’re basing our figures on the latest reports and will update these numbers as necessary. These deals will go into effect beginning in 2022/23:
Luka Doncic (Mavericks): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $207,060,000. Includes fifth-year player option and 15% trade kicker.- Trae Young (Hawks): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $172,500,000. Projected value can increase to $207,060,000 if Young earns All-NBA honors in 2022. Includes fifth-year player option and 15% trade kicker.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $172,500,000. Projected value can increase to $207,060,000 if Gilgeous-Alexander earns All-NBA honors in 2022. Includes 15% trade kicker.
- Michael Porter Jr. (Nuggets): Five years, maximum salary (story). Projected value of $172,500,000. Projected value can increase to $193,256,000 or $207,060,000 if Porter earns All-NBA honors in 2022. Includes partial guarantee ($12MM) in fifth year.
- Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies): Four years, $104,720,000 (story). Includes Exhibit 3 injury protection related to Jackson’s left knee.
- Mikal Bridges (Suns): Four years, $90,000,000 (story).
- Kevin Huerter (Hawks): Four years, $65,000,000 (story).
- Wendell Carter Jr. (Magic): Four years, $50,000,000 (story).
- Robert Williams (Celtics): Four years, $48,000,000 (base value) (story). Includes $6MM in incentives.
- Landry Shamet (Suns): Four years, $42,500,000 (story). Includes non-guaranteed third year and fourth-year team option.
- Grayson Allen (Bucks): Two years, $17,000,000 (base value) (story). Includes $2.55MM in incentives.
Some of these extensions were no-brainers — there was never any doubt that Doncic or Young were going to get maximum-salary offers as soon as possible, for instance. Of the four maximum-salary deals, Porter’s was the most fascinating, given his injury history and the fact that the Nuggets already had two max players (Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray) on their books.
Porter showed last season that he’s rapidly becoming one of the NBA’s most talented scorers, so it made sense for Denver to lock him up. It also made sense for the team to protect itself a little, which it did by making the fifth year of the contract partially guaranteed. If Porter makes an All-NBA team or becomes a two-time All-Star, that fifth year will become fully guaranteed, which would be a win-win for player and team.
The seven non-max extensions are all interesting for their own reasons. The Grizzlies and Celtics, for example, bet heavily on players who have had some trouble staying in the court during their first three NBA seasons due to injury issues. If Jackson and Williams can stay healthy going forward, those deals should look pretty team-friendly.
Jackson’s contract does include some protection, but only if he suffers a serious left knee injury, and Memphis would have to waive him in that scenario in order to actually realize any savings. That’s not an outcome either side wants.
Shamet and Allen signed their new deals without having played in even a single regular season game for the Suns or Bucks, respectively. That’s a little unusual, but not at all unprecedented — Luke Kennard and the Clippers took the same path in 2020, and Taurean Prince and the Nets did so in 2019.
The Magic at least got a brief look at Carter last season before committing $50MM to him. It’s the third rookie scale extension Orlando has completed in the last two years, as Carter joins Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac. The team has shown a somewhat surprising willingness to commit long-term to a group of core players that have yet to all play together.
Finally, the Suns‘ deal with Bridges and the Hawks‘ agreement with Huerter have some similarities — both Bridges and Huerter are reliable role players on last year’s most surprising contenders who are getting rewarded with long-term investments.
Both look like fair deals, but it will be interesting to see whether there’s any ripple effect on other players. Is Phoenix still comfortable awarding big money to Deandre Ayton next year with lucrative new deals for Bridges and Shamet now in the books? And how will the Huerter extension impact the odds of the Hawks also extending De’Andre Hunter and/or Cam Reddish in 2022?
While 11 players signed rookie scale extensions, that leaves 12 players who were eligible for a new deal and didn’t get one (a 13th, Chandler Hutchison, was waived by the Spurs early in the offseason). Here’s the list of those players, who are now eligible to become restricted free agents during the 2022 offseason, assuming they finish their current contracts:
- Deandre Ayton (Suns)
- Marvin Bagley III (Kings)
- Mohamed Bamba (Magic)
- Miles Bridges (Hornets)
- Troy Brown (Bulls)
- Donte DiVincenzo (Bucks)
- Aaron Holiday (Wizards)
- Kevin Knox (Knicks)
- Josh Okogie (Timberwolves)
- Collin Sexton (Cavaliers)
- Anfernee Simons (Trail Blazers)
- Lonnie Walker (Spurs)
Ayton is the most notable name on this list, and we covered his situation in more depth in a pair of stories on Monday. He was reportedly seeking a maximum-salary extension that the Suns were unwilling to offer, so he’s headed for restricted free agency in 2022.
There aren’t many teams projected to have cap room in 2022, but Ayton should be one of the top three or four free agents on the market and would appeal to a wide range of teams due to his age and upside. If he has a strong season, he may still get that max deal he desires.
Of course, it’s worth noting that a max contract could look quite different if it comes in an offer sheet from another team rather than in an offer directly from the Suns. Based on current projections, a rival suitor could offer about $128MM over four years, while Phoenix could give Ayton in excess of $172MM over five. The Suns may be more comfortable matching an offer sheet, but it could include unfavorable terms, such as a fourth-year player option and/or a 15% trade kicker.
Bridges, DiVincenzo, Sexton, and Walker were some of the more intriguing extension candidates in this group who didn’t end up getting new deals and are now on track for restricted free agency next summer. I’d consider Bridges and Walker pretty good bets to stick with their current teams; DiVincenzo’s and Sexton’s futures are less clear. The Bucks will be in the tax and may not want to give DiVincenzo a big raise after securing Allen, while Sexton’s name popped up in some trade rumors over the summer.
The rest of these players weren’t serious extension candidates. Some – including Bamba, Knox, and Okogie – appear unlikely to even receive qualifying offers next offseason unless they show a lot more in 2021/22 than they have in their first three NBA seasons.
2021 NBA Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Lakers
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, examine what still needs to be done before opening night, and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Free agent signings:
Note: Exhibit 9 and 10 deals aren’t included here.
Talen Horton-Tucker: Three years, $30.78MM. Third-year player option. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.- Kendrick Nunn: Two years, $10.25MM. Second-year player option. Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Carmelo Anthony: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Trevor Ariza: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Kent Bazemore: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Wayne Ellington: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Dwight Howard: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- DeAndre Jordan: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Malik Monk: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Rajon Rondo: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Austin Reaves: Two-way contract. Later signed to two-year, minimum-salary contract. First year partially guaranteed. Second year non-guaranteed.
- Sekou Doumbouya: Two-way contract.
- Jay Huff: Two-way contract.
Trades:
- Acquired Russell Westbrook, the Bulls’ 2023 second-round pick (from Wizards), either the Wizards’ or Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable; from Wizards), and the Wizards’ 2028 second-round pick in a five-team trade in exchange for Kyle Kuzma (to Wizards), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (to Wizards), Montrezl Harrell (to Wizards), and the draft rights to Isaiah Jackson (No. 22 pick; to Pacers).
- Acquired the draft rights to Wang Zhelin from the Grizzlies in exchange for Marc Gasol, the Lakers’ 2024 second-round pick, and cash ($250K).
Draft picks:
- None
Contract extensions:
- None
Waiver claims:
- Avery Bradley: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed.
Departing players:
- Kostas Antetokounmpo
- Devontae Cacok
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
- Alex Caruso
- Andre Drummond
- Jared Dudley
- Marc Gasol
- Montrezl Harrell
- Kyle Kuzma
- Wesley Matthews
- Alfonzo McKinnie
- Ben McLemore
- Markieff Morris
- Dennis Schröder
Other offseason news:
- Trevor Ariza underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure on his right ankle and will miss the start of the season.
- Talen Horton-Tucker underwent right thumb surgery and will miss the start of the season.
- Signed head coach Frank Vogel to a one-year extension.
- Hired David Fizdale and John Lucas III as assistant coaches; lost assistant coaches Jason Kidd and Lionel Hollins.
- Mark Walter and Todd Boehly bought a 27% stake in the franchise.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap and above the tax line.
- Carrying approximately $154.5MM in salary.
- $890,000 of non-taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($5MM used on Kendrick Nunn).
- One traded player exception ($2,692,991) available.
The Lakers’ offseason:
Shortly after the Lakers’ 2020/21 season came to a disappointing early end, general manager Rob Pelinka stated that his goal was to keep the majority of the team’s core together, suggesting that he believed last season’s group would have made a deeper postseason run with some better injury luck.
Four-and-a-half months later, no team has overhauled its roster more than the Lakers, who have just three players from last year’s squad returning for the 2021/22 season. Either Pelinka’s plans changed, he wasn’t telling the full truth when he spoke to reporters in June, or his definition of the team’s “core” was much narrowed than originally believed.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis will be back, of course, as will up-and-coming guard Talen Horton-Tucker, the only one of the Lakers’ many free agents to get a new deal from the team. Los Angeles essentially chose to invest in Horton-Tucker over fellow guards Dennis Schröder and Alex Caruso, betting on the 20-year-old’s upside and ability to continue improving. The three-year, $30.78MM deal he received as a restricted free agent was, by far, the largest deal the Lakers handed out this offseason.
Horton-Tucker’s new contract wasn’t the Lakers’ biggest transactions of the summer. That honor belongs to the five-team blockbuster trade that sent Russell Westbrook to his hometown of Los Angeles, with L.A. surrendering Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft.
It was a fascinating decision for a team that had other options. The Lakers were reportedly far down the road with the Kings in discussions on a potential Buddy Hield trade that wouldn’t have had such a significant price tag. Reports at the time suggested the Lakers would’ve been able to hang onto Caldwell-Pope and possibly even the No. 22 pick if they’d been willing to send Kuzma and Harrell to Sacramento for Hield, whose cap hit is about half of Westbrook’s.
On paper, Hield – who is one of the NBA’s most talented shooters – would seem to be a better complementary piece for a team that could have prioritized surrounding its stars with floor spacers who don’t need the ball much. Westbrook is a far more ball-dominant player and a far less effective three-point shooter.
However, the Lakers weren’t interested in a complementary piece. They wanted another star who could take some of the play-making workload off of James and Davis and who could give the team some insurance in the event that either LeBron or AD deals with injuries again. You’d rather have Hield than Westbrook taking an open three with the game on the line, but the Lakers believed Westbrook’s ability to push the pace, attack defense, get to the rim, and make plays for his teammates will ultimately benefit the team more.
Having sacrificed some depth to acquire Westbrook – and having let all of their free agents except Horton-Tucker walk – the Lakers focused on finding reliable depth on the cheap. Young point guard Kendrick Nunn received a two-year, $10MM commitment using most of L.A.’s taxpayer mid-level exception, but every other veteran signed by the team this summer got a minimum-salary deal.
That list of minimum-salary veterans consists of Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, DeAndre Jordan, Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, Trevor Ariza, and Wayne Ellington, with undrafted rookie Austin Reaves filling out the roster on a minimum deal of his own.
Anthony, Howard, and Rondo are potential Hall-of-Famers who have accepted limited roles in recent years. Their willingness to buy in and be complementary players is great, but they’re all 35 or older and shouldn’t be leaned on for big minutes.
Ariza is another player in that 35-or-older group, and he’s already dealing with an ankle injury that will sideline him for several weeks to open the season. Jordan is still a solid rebounder and a decent defender in certain matchups, but will be played off the court in others. Ellington is a great shooter who doesn’t contribute a whole lot else.
Bazemore and Monk are two of Los Angeles’ more intriguing additions. Bazemore has been up and down in recent years, but if the Lakers get the good version of the three-and-D wing, he could end up playing a pretty major role. Monk, meanwhile, finally had a modest breakout year in 2020/21, knocking down 40.1% of his three-pointers in Charlotte. He’ll get the chance to prove the progress he made was for real.
The Lakers have constructed one of the more top-heavy rosters in the NBA, with James, Davis, and Westbrook earning nearly $121MM this season, while nine of the team’s 11 other players are on minimum-salary contracts. That will make it difficult for the team to complete in-season trades, so L.A. will have to hope that this group stays healthy and that four or five of those minimum guys can be relied upon for productive regular minutes.
The Lakers’ upcoming season:
Any team with James and Davis on its roster is a legitimate championship contender, though I’m not convinced that this year’s supporting cast is better than last year’s. The answer to that question will largely hinge on whether Westbrook’s fit is a comfortable one or an awkward one.
If the Lakers can make their Big Three work and keep those three stars relatively healthy, they should be able to get enough out of the other 11 guys to make this work. If the addition of Westbrook creates some spacing issues, or if Davis doesn’t adjust well to playing more at the five instead of the four, there could be cause for concern.
The Lakers won’t be my pick to win the 2022 Finals, but they’re a solid playoff team and one of the few NBA clubs with enough talent to compete for a title.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.
Pacers Sign Malcolm Brogdon To Two-Year Extension
5:53pm: The Pacers and Brogdon have officially completed their new deal, according to the transactions log at NBA.com.
2:14pm: The Pacers and guard Malcolm Brogdon have agreed to a two-year, $45MM extension, agent Austin Brown of CAA Sports tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Brogdon’s current contract covers the next two years, so his new deal will begin in 2023/24 and will lock him up through 2025. The 28-year-old is earning $21.7MM in ’21/22 and $22.6MM in ’22/23, for a total of $44.3MM over the next two seasons, so his new two-year extension figures to look pretty similar to the remainder of his current deal.
Brogdon, who will turn 29 in December, has spent the last two seasons in Indiana and enjoyed perhaps the best statistical season of his career in 2020/21. He averaged a career-high 21.2 PPG to go along with 5.9 APG and 5.3 RPG in 56 games (34.5 MPG), posting a shooting line of .453/.388/.864.
There had been some whispers throughout the offseason that Brogdon could be a trade candidate, and his name – as well as Caris LeVert‘s – surfaced in rumors related to the Ben Simmons trade talks between the Sixers and Pacers. However, subsequent reports suggested that Philadelphia wasn’t that enamored by the idea of a package centered around Brogdon and/or LeVert.
Now that he’s signing an extension, Brogdon won’t be a trade option for the Sixers or any other team this season. As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Brogdon’s new deal exceeds the extend-and-trade limits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, meaning he won’t become trade-eligible for six months. This season’s trade deadline is on February 10.
As we noted this morning, if Brogdon hadn’t finalized an extension today, he wouldn’t have been eligible to sign one until the 2022 offseason, since he still has multiple years left on his current deal.
Bucks Sign Grayson Allen To Two-Year Extension
5:52pm: The Bucks have officially signed Allen to his extension, per NBA.com’s transactions log. The deal’s overall base value is lower than $20MM, according to Jim Owczarksi of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who reports that it can be worth up to $19.5MM if certain team and player incentives are met.
4:16pm: The Bucks have reached an agreement on a two-year, $20MM rookie scale contract extension with wing Grayson Allen, agent Mitch Nathan of CAA tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Allen, who is entering his fourth NBA season, had the best year of his career for the Grizzlies in 2020/21, starting 38 of 50 games and averaging 10.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.2 APG. The former Duke star has knocked down 39.5% of his 3-point attempts over the last two years while steadily increasing his volume.
The Bucks acquired Allen from Memphis over the summer in exchange for Sam Merrill and a pair of future second-round picks. He’ll play a rotation role on the wing in Milwaukee this season and would have been eligible for restricted free agency in 2022 if he hadn’t worked out a deal with the team today.
Allen’s two-year contract will give the Bucks some insurance in the event that they can’t complete a new contract with Donte DiVincenzo, who is also on track for potential restricted free agency next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension today. Allen’s new deal will pay him approximately the equivalent of the full mid-level exception.
Allen will earn just over $4MM this season before his extension goes into effect in 2022/23.