Suns Sign Chandler Hutchison To Two-Way Contract
SEPTEMBER 8: Hutchison is on a two-way deal, per NBA.com. The Suns are now carrying 14 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way contract.
SEPTEMBER 7: The Suns have officially signed free agent wing Chandler Hutchison, the team announced today in a press release. Hutchison was cut by San Antonio on Saturday and cleared waivers on Monday.
Hutchison, 25, has appeared in a total of 97 NBA games for the Bulls and Wizards since being selected 22nd overall in the 2018 draft. After averaging 20.0 PPG with a .359 3PT% in his final college season at Boise State in 2017/18, he has struggled to score consistently at the NBA level, recording 5.7 PPG on .441/.309/.638 shooting in 18.2 minutes per contest.
Hutchison was traded from Chicago to Washington at this year’s trade deadline, then was flipped to San Antonio in the five-team trade that included Russell Westbrook and Spencer Dinwiddie. The Spurs also got a 2022 second-round pick in that deal for taking on Hutchison, signaling that he was a salary dump who wasn’t in the team’s plans.
In Phoenix, Hutchison will join a team that had been carrying just 14 players, all on guaranteed standard contracts. The Suns don’t have luxury tax concerns, so they could comfortably carry a 15th man in the regular season. For now, it looks like Hutchison is the frontrunner to fill that spot, though we don’t yet know the terms of his new contract.
Bulls Sign Stanley Johnson To Non-Guaranteed Contract
SEPTEMBER 7: Johnson’s deal, which is now official, is non-guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
SEPTEMBER 6: The Bulls have agreed to a deal with free agent forward Stanley Johnson, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). While Charania’s report doesn’t include contract details, a minimum-salary agreement seems likely.
Johnson, the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft, began his NBA career in Detroit before being traded to New Orleans in 2019. He then played for the Raptors for two years from 2019-21, earning a spot in the team’s regular rotation this past season.
Johnson’s 2020/21 numbers (4.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, .382/.328/.800 shooting) in 61 games for Toronto don’t exactly jump off the page, but he proved he can be a useful depth piece at the NBA level by providing energy and defensive versatility off the bench.
A report last week linked Johnson to Brooklyn, noting that the veteran free agent had been working out around some Nets players and staffers. However, Brooklyn faces a roster crunch after reaching deals to sign Paul Millsap and LaMarcus Aldridge and acquiring Sekou Doumbouya and Jahlil Okafor, so it would’ve been hard to find room for Johnson.
Instead, Johnson will join a Chicago team that only features 13 players on standard contracts, plus Devon Dotson on a two-way pact. We’ll have to wait for the terms on the 25-year-old’s deal to get a better idea of how he fits into the Bulls’ plans, but for now he looks like a good bet to claim a spot on the club’s 15-man regular season squad.
Bulls Sign Ethan Thompson To Exhibit 10 Contract
SEPTEMBER 7: Over a month after the deal was officially reported, the Bulls have officially signed Thompson to a non-guaranteed camp deal, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
JULY 30: The Bulls have reached an agreement to sign former Oregon State shooting guard Ethan Thompson to an Exhibit 10 contract, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Thompson, who went undrafted on Thursday night, spent his four-year college career with the Beavers, starting all 127 games he played for the team. In 2020/21, he averaged 15.7 PPG to go along with 4.0 RPG and 3.9 APG in 33.6 minutes per contest (33 games). The 22-year-old earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team.
Exhibit 10 contracts give NBA teams a chance to bring players to training camp and get a look at them without guaranteeing them a regular season roster spot or any real salary. If Thompson ends up playing for the Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s G League affiliate, he could earn a $50K bonus due to the Exhibit 10 language in his deal.
Spurs Re-Sign Keita Bates-Diop To Two-Year Deal
7:42pm: The Spurs have officially re-signed Bates-Diop, the team announced in a press release.
9:34am: Restricted free agent forward Keita Bates-Diop has agreed to re-sign with the Spurs on a two-year contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Bates-Diop spent last season on a two-way deal with San Antonio. At season’s end, the club made him an RFA by tendering a qualifying offer that was equivalent to a one-year, two-way contract with a $50K partial guarantee. Based on Wojnarowski’s report, it sounds as if the 25-year-old was able to work out a new standard deal with the Spurs rather than accepting that QO and playing on a two-way contract again.
The 48th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Bates-Diop began his career with Minnesota and has since spent time in Denver and San Antonio. In 2020/21, he averaged 2.6 PPG and 1.6 RPG on .448/.294/.667 shooting in 30 games (8.2 MPG) for the Spurs.
Given Bates-Diop’s underwhelming numbers in his first three NBA seasons, it’s a little surprising that the Spurs were willing to give him a two-year deal, even if it’s almost certainly not fully guaranteed. San Antonio waived Chandler Hutchison over the weekend, but still has 16 other players on guaranteed contracts — adding Bates-Diop to the mix does nothing to clear that roster crunch.
We’ll have to wait for more details on Bates-Diop’s agreement with the Spurs to get a better sense of whether the team envisions him claiming a spot on the 15-man regular season roster. If so, San Antonio will have to trade or release two other players by opening night.
Pacers Sign Nate Hinton To Exhibit 10 Deal
7:41pm: The signing is official, according to a press release from the Pacers.
3:20pm: The Pacers have reached an agreement with free agent guard Nate Hinton on an Exhibit 10 deal, agent Tallen Todorovich tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link).
Hinton, 22, signed a two-way contract with the Mavericks during the 2020 offseason after going undrafted out of Houston. The 6’5″ shooting guard spent his rookie season in Dallas, appearing in 21 games for the club, but only played limited minutes, averaging 2.0 PPG in 4.4 MPG. He saw more action at the G League level for the Santa Cruz Warriors, putting up 10.6 PPG and 7.1 RPG in 10 games (23.0 MPG).
The Mavs issued a qualifying offer to Hinton earlier this summer to make him a restricted free agent and he accepted it, briefly returning to the team on a second two-way deal. However, Dallas waived him in August in order to open up a two-way slot for JaQuori McLaughlin.
The Pacers currently have a total of 19 players under contract, including 13 on guaranteed contracts, four on non-guaranteed deals, and a pair on two-way pacts. Hinton, who will join Keifer Sykes and Terry Taylor as the Pacers players with Exhibit 10 deals, will be the team’s 20th man.
Earning a regular season roster spot will be a challenge, but if Hinton ends up joining Indiana’s G League affiliate for at least 60 days, his Exhibit 10 contract would make him eligible to earn a bonus of up to $50K.
Spurs Sign Joe Wieskamp To Two-Way Contract
SEPTEMBER 7: The Spurs have officially announced the signing of Wieskamp to a two-way deal, per a team press release.
AUGUST 17: Former Iowa wing Joe Wieskamp will sign a two-way contract with the Spurs, according to Scott Dochterman of The Athletic (Twitter link; hat tip to RealGM).
Wieskamp, who will turn 22 next Monday, averaged 14.8 PPG and 6.6 RPG on .491/.462/.677 shooting in 31 games (29.3 MPG) as a junior in 2020/21. He earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors and was the 41st player to come off the board in the July 29 draft.
The Spurs already have 14 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Drew Eubanks on a partially guaranteed deal and Bryn Forbes and Jock Landale still to sign. As such, there probably wouldn’t have a spot for Wieskamp on the 15-man regular season roster, so it makes sense that San Antonio will start him off on a two-way contract.
Once they sign Wieskamp, the Spurs will still have their second two-way slot open, though Keita Bates-Diop is a candidate to fill it — the team still has a two-way qualifying offer out to him.
How Players Who Declined Options Fared In Free Agency
Of the 16 veterans who had player options on their contracts for the 2021/22 season, seven picked up those options, forgoing free agency for another year of security. However, that leaves nine players who opted out and reached the free agent market.
For some players, that decision was an easy one. For instance, Norman Powell was long believed to be in line for a multiyear deal in the range of $15-20MM per year, so exercising his $11.6MM player option never would’ve made any sense.
The decision wasn’t so easy for every player who opted out though. Now that we’re five weeks into free agency, we want to look back on those decisions to see if they paid off for the nine players who opted out.
Let’s dive in…
The biggest wins:
Kawhi Leonard
- Option: $36,016,200 (Clippers)
- New contract: Four years, $176,265,152 (Clippers)
- Norman Powell
- Option: $11,615,328 (Trail Blazers)
- New contract: Five years, $90,000,000 (Trail Blazers)
- Spencer Dinwiddie
- Option: $12,302,496 (Nets)
- New contract: Three years, $54,000,000 (Wizards)
- Note: Deal includes $8MM in incentives; third year partially guaranteed.
Leonard, Powell, and Dinwiddie all secured raises for the 2021/22 season and increased their overall guarantees exponentially. Leonard tacked on an extra $140MM in guaranteed money, while Powell’s new overall guarantee is nearly eight times more than his option salary.
Dinwiddie’s new contract isn’t quite as favorable as the other two, but it’s still a major win for a player who missed nearly the entire 2020/21 season due to an ACL tear. Even in a worst-case scenario, Dinwiddie will earn $45MM in guaranteed money. He can ensure his third-year salary becomes fully guaranteed by appearing in at least 50 games in each of the next two seasons, and he has the ability to earn even more in incentives.
A solid win:
- Chris Paul
- Option: $44,211,146 (Suns)
- New contract: Four years, $120,000,000 (Suns)
- Note: Deal includes $75MM in guaranteed money. Third year is partially guaranteed; fourth year is non-guaranteed.
If you want to move Paul to the “biggest wins” group, I wouldn’t argue with that. After all, he increased his overall guarantee by more than $30MM, which is no small feat for a player hitting free agency at age 36.
I’m separating him into his own group because his 2021/22 salary was reduced by more than $13MM as part of his new deal, and I think it’s possible he could’ve gotten more than $30MM in guaranteed money on his next deal if he had simply picked up his option and hit free agency next year.
I certainly don’t blame him for going this route though, given his injury history. And if he continues to play at a high level, the Suns will probably want to keep him for the third year of the deal, which would increase his overall guarantee on this contract to $90MM.
Minor wins:
Will Barton
- Option: $14,669,642 (Nuggets)
- New contract: Two years, $30,000,000 (Nuggets)
- Note: Deal includes $2MM in incentives.
- JaMychal Green
- Option: $7,559,748 (Nuggets)
- New contract: Two years, $16,400,000 (Nuggets)
- Note: Deal includes $400K in incentives.
- Bobby Portis
- Option: $3,804,150 (Bucks)
- New contract: Two years, $8,912,580 (Bucks)
- Bryn Forbes
- Option: $2,454,002 (Bucks)
- New contract: One year, $4,500,000 (Spurs)
The Nuggets took a similar approach to their negotiations with Barton and Green — Denver gave each player a small raise this year, plus a second guaranteed season (Green’s second year is a player option).
The Bucks went that route with Portis too, giving him the biggest raise they could offer using his Non-Bird rights and including a second-year player option on his new deal.
You could make a case that Forbes is a big winner for nearly doubling his 2021/22 salary, but without any future years tacked onto that deal (and given the relatively small salaries involved), I’m classifying it as a modest victory.
The jury’s still out:
- Isaiah Hartenstein
- Option: $1,762,796 (Cavaliers)
- New contract: TBD
Hartenstein is the only one of these nine players who remains unsigned. Based on his solid play with the Cavs down the stretch, turning down his minimum-salary player option seemed like a reasonable bet at the time, but it now looks like he might’ve been better off taking the guaranteed money.
While he’ll probably be signed at some point in the coming weeks, Hartenstein isn’t a lock for a fully guaranteed deal. And even if he gets a guaranteed one-year, minimum-salary contract, it’ll be worth slightly less ($1,729,217) than the option he declined, due to the league’s minimum-salary rules.
Sixers’ $8MM+ Trade Exception Set To Expire
The traded player exception the Sixers generated in last year’s Al Horford deal is set to expire if it’s not used on Tuesday, per Basketball Insiders and Spotrac. The exception, created when Horford was sent to Oklahoma City in December, is worth $8,190,134.
Traded player exceptions allow teams to absorb salary without sending outgoing salary for matching purposes. Typically, they expire after one year, but the Sixers’ Horford TPE and the rest of the trade exceptions created during the 2020 offseason had their expiry dates adjusted to account for the NBA’s shortened season.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Traded Player Exception]
I wouldn’t expect many more trades to be completed before the regular season begins next month, but the 76ers are the team that seems most likely to make a deal, given their unresolved Ben Simmons situation. The $8MM+ traded player exception could theoretically come in handy in a Simmons deal, depending on the structure, but Philadelphia won’t rush to get anything done on Tuesday just to use it.
Of the available trade exceptions around the league that are set to expire prior to the 2022 offseason, the Sixers’ $8.19MM TPE is among the largest. The Magic have a $17.15MM exception that will expire in February and the Thunder have a pair worth $9.59MM and $12.8MM, also expiring in February. All of the other TPEs worth more than $8MM won’t expire until next summer.
Decisions On 2022/23 Rookie Scale Team Options
With the NBA set to return to its usual schedule for the start of the 2021/22 regular season, the deadline for decisions on third- and fourth-year team options for players on rookie scale contracts is back to its usual date at the end of October. Actually, because October 31 falls on a Sunday this year, the deadline will be on the Monday (November 1).
All the players whose options will be exercised or declined by November 1 are already under contract for the 2021/22 season. Their teams will have to make a decision on whether they want to lock in those players’ contracts beyond the coming season, picking up or turning down team options for the 2022/23 campaign.
For players who signed their rookie scale contracts in 2019 and have already been in the NBA for two years, teams must decide on fourth-year options for 2022/23. For players who just signed their rookie deals last year and only have one season of NBA experience under their belts, teams will already be faced with a decision on third-year options for ’22/23.
In many cases, these decisions aren’t hard ones. Rookie scale salaries are affordable enough that it usually makes sense to exercise most of these team options, even if a player isn’t a key cog on the roster. And for those players who do have a significant role on a team’s roster, the decision is even easier — it’s not as if the Hornets will consider turning down their option on LaMelo Ball, for instance.
Still, we’ll wait for a trusted reporter, the NBA, a player (or his agent), or a team itself to confirm that an option is indeed being exercised or declined, and we’ll track that news in this space.
Listed below are all the rookie scale decisions for 2022/23 team options that clubs must make by November 1. This list will be updated throughout the rest of the month as teams’ decisions are reported and announced. The salary figures listed here reflect the cap hits for each team.
Here are the NBA’s rookie scale team option decisions for 2022/23 salaries:
Atlanta Hawks
- De’Andre Hunter (fourth year, $9,835,881): Exercised
- Onyeka Okongwu (third year, $6,395,160): Exercised
- Cam Reddish (fourth year, $5,954,454): Exercised
Boston Celtics
- Romeo Langford (fourth year, $5,634,257): Exercised
- Grant Williams (fourth year, $4,306,281): Exercised
- Aaron Nesmith (third year, $3,804,360): Exercised
- Payton Pritchard (third year, $2,239,200): Exercised
Brooklyn Nets
- None
Charlotte Hornets
- LaMelo Ball (third year, $8,623,920): Exercised
- P.J. Washington (fourth year, $5,808,435): Exercised
Chicago Bulls
- Patrick Williams (third year, $7,775,400): Exercised
- Coby White (fourth year, $7,413,955): Exercised
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Darius Garland (fourth year, $8,920,795): Exercised
- Isaac Okoro (third year, $7,040,880): Exercised
- Dylan Windler (fourth year, $4,037,278): Exercised
Dallas Mavericks
- Josh Green (third year, $3,098,400): Exercised
Denver Nuggets
- Zeke Nnaji (third year, $2,617,800): Exercised
Detroit Pistons
- Killian Hayes (third year, $5,837,760): Exercised
- Isaiah Stewart (third year, $3,433,320): Exercised
- Saddiq Bey (third year, $2,959,080): Exercised
Golden State Warriors
- James Wiseman (third year, $9,603,360): Exercised
- Jordan Poole (fourth year, $3,901,399): Exercised
Houston Rockets
- Sekou Doumbouya (fourth year, $5,539,771): Waived
- Kevin Porter Jr. (fourth year, $3,217,631): Exercised
Indiana Pacers
- Goga Bitadze (fourth year, $4,765,339): Exercised
Los Angeles Clippers
- None
Los Angeles Lakers
- None
Memphis Grizzlies
- Ja Morant (fourth year, $12,119,440): Exercised
- Jarrett Culver (fourth year, $8,109,063): Will be declined
- Brandon Clarke (fourth year, $4,343,920): Exercised
- Desmond Bane (third year, $2,130,240): Exercised
Miami Heat
- Tyler Herro (fourth year, $5,722,116): Exercised
Milwaukee Bucks
- None
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Anthony Edwards (third year, $10,733,400): Exercised
- Jaden McDaniels (third year, $2,161,440): Exercised
New Orleans Pelicans
- Zion Williamson (fourth year, $13,534,817): Exercised
- Jaxson Hayes (fourth year, $6,803,012): Exercised
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker (fourth year, $5,009,633): Exercised
- Kira Lewis (third year, $4,004,280): Exercised
New York Knicks
- RJ Barrett (fourth year, $10,900,635): Exercised
- Obi Toppin (third year, $5,348,280): Exercised
- Immanuel Quickley (third year, $2,316,240): Exercised
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Darius Bazley (fourth year, $4,264,629): Exercised
- Ty Jerome (fourth year, $4,220,057): Exercised
- Aleksej Pokusevski (third year, $3,261,480): Exercised
Orlando Magic
- Cole Anthony (third year, $3,613,680): Exercised
- Chuma Okeke (third year, $3,433,320): Exercised
- R.J. Hampton (third year, $2,412,840): Exercised
Philadelphia 76ers
- Matisse Thybulle (fourth year, $4,379,527): Exercised
- Tyrese Maxey (third year, $2,726,880): Exercised
Phoenix Suns
- Cameron Johnson (fourth year, $5,887,899): Exercised
- Jalen Smith (third year, $4,670,160): Will be declined
Portland Trail Blazers
- Nassir Little (fourth year, $4,171,548): Exercised
Sacramento Kings
- Tyrese Haliburton (third year, $4,215,120): Exercised
San Antonio Spurs
- Luka Samanic (fourth year, $4,556,983): Waived
- Devin Vassell (third year, $4,437,000): Exercised
- Keldon Johnson (fourth year, $3,873,025): Exercised
Toronto Raptors
- Precious Achiuwa (third year, $2,840,160): Exercised
- Malachi Flynn (third year, $2,145,720): Exercised
Utah Jazz
- Udoka Azubuike (third year, $2,174,880): Exercised
Washington Wizards
- Rui Hachimura (fourth year, $6,263,188): Exercised
- Deni Avdija (third year, $4,916,160): Exercised
Information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Bulls Sign Matt Thomas
The Bulls have signed free agent sharpshooter Matt Thomas to a contract, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. The signing occurred on Saturday, per RealGM.
Thomas, who signed a multiyear deal with the Raptors in 2019 following an impressive stint overseas, spent a year-and-a-half with Toronto before being sent to Utah at the 2021 deadline. In total, he appeared in 86 games for the Raptors and Jazz, averaging 4.0 PPG in 8.9 minutes per contest.
Thomas is known for his ability to knock down three-point shots. He made 41.3% of his long-distance attempts during his two NBA seasons after making 48.1% for Valencia Basket during his last year in Europe in 2018/19.
While the specific details of Thomas’ deal aren’t known, RealGM classifies it as a one-year contract. And since it doesn’t show up NBA.com’s transactions log – which doesn’t list non-guaranteed signings – it’s probably safe to assume it’s not guaranteed.
Since Chicago has been carrying 13 players on guaranteed contracts, Thomas could get an opportunity to compete for a regular season roster spot. Stanley Johnson, another former Raptor who reached a deal with the Bulls today, also figures to be in the mix for a roster spot — it’s unclear whether or not Johnson’s salary will be guaranteed.