2021/22 NBA Draft-And-Stash Signings
Free agent signees, trade acquisitions, and 2021 draftees have been the most common additions to NBA rosters in recent weeks. However, a small number of players come via the draft-and-stash route, as teams bring aboard players drafted in previous years.
First-round draftees from the last three years – such as Leandro Bolmaro of the Timberwolves – are limited to the 2021 rookie scale. Players who were previously selected in the second round of a draft – or who were first-round picks more than three years ago – are free to sign any type of contract via cap room or exceptions.
Listed below are the draft-and-stash prospects who have signed so far this offseason, with contract details noted. If and when more teams add draft-and-stash players, we’ll update this list, which can be found at anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in the “Features” page in our mobile menu.
- Chicago Bulls: Marko Simonovic, F/C (2020 draft; No. 44) (story)
- Simonovic spent another season with Crvena Zvezda in Serbia after being selected in the second round of last year’s draft, but he was one of Arturas Karnisovas‘ first draft picks and the plan was always for him to come stateside at some point. The Bulls saved a portion of their mid-level exception for Simonovic to ensure they were able to give him a third non-guaranteed year on top of his two guaranteed seasons.
- Contract: Three years, $4.32MM (minimum salary). First two years guaranteed.
- Charlotte Hornets: Arnoldas Kulboka, F (2018 draft; No. 55) (story)
- After being drafted in 2018, Kulboka remained with Brose Bamberg, his team in Germany, for another year. He then joined Bilbao in Spain for the next two seasons before coming stateside for the 2021/22 campaign. The 23-year-old will start his NBA career on a two-way deal, so he’ll be limited to 50 games at the NBA level this season unless he’s promoted to the 15-man roster.
- Contract: Two-way contract.
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Vit Krejci, G (2020 draft; No. 37) (story)
- Krejci was still recovering from a knee injury when the Thunder acquired him in the 2020 draft, so he spent the season with the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League rehabbing that injury. A year later, the 21-year-old has officially signed his first NBA contract with the Thunder.
- Contract: Four years, $6.31MM (minimum salary). First year guaranteed. Second year partially guaranteed.
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Leandro Bolmaro, G (2020 draft; No. 23) (story)
- Bolmaro was stashed for a year in Spain after the Timberwolves used one of their 2020 first-round picks to nab him. He won a Liga ACB championship and a Spanish Cup title with Barcelona in 2021, and was named the ACB Most Spectacular Player, proving he was ready to make the leap to the NBA.
- Contract: Four years, $11.81MM. First two years guaranteed. Third- and fourth-year team options.
- Denver Nuggets: Petr Cornelie, F (2016 draft; No. 53) (story)
- Cornelie played for Denver’s Summer League team several times after being selected in the 2016 draft, but didn’t actually make the move stateside until this season, when he filled one of the team’s two-way contract slots. He had spent the last eight years (from 2013-21) playing in his home country of France, including for Elan Bearnais in 2020/21.
- Contract: Two-way contract.
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Celtics Notes: Roster, Two-Way Slot, Tax, Begarin
Speaking today to reporters, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens suggested the team has completed its major offseason moves.
Stevens pointed out that Boston has 16 players on standard contracts (15 guaranteed salaries, plus Jabari Parker‘s non-guaranteed deal) and said he’s comfortable bringing this group to training camp, noting that any additional moves will likely be “tweaks around the edge” (Twitter links via Keith Smith of Spotrac).
The Celtics do still have one open two-way slot, and Stevens said the team is still considering how to fill it. There’s no rush to do so, since Boston could end up targeting a player who gets waived by another team this fall, according to Stevens (Twitter link via Smith).
Here’s more from the Celtics’ new president:
- Discussing Boston’s key offseason additions, Stevens said the team likes Josh Richardson‘s toughness and ability to play multiple positions, and added that the Celtics were “very fortunate” to land Dennis Schröder and Enes Kanter for the taxpayer mid-level exception and the veteran’s minimum, respectively (all Twitter links via Smith).
- Stevens has the green light to go into luxury-tax territory in 2021/22, which is why he didn’t want to trigger a hard cap this offseason by acquiring a player via sign-and-trade or using more than the taxpayer portion of the MLE, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
- Stevens confirmed that second-round pick Juhann Begarin will remain overseas for at least the 2021/22 season (Twitter link via Weiss). Stevens added that the team will be monitoring Begarin and 2020 second-rounder Yam Madar “quite a bit” in Europe this year (Twitter link via Smith).
Hawks Sign A.J. Lawson To Camp Deal
The Hawks have signed rookie free agent A.J. Lawson to a one-year contract, according to RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions. While terms of the deal aren’t known, it figures to be a non-guaranteed camp deal that includes Exhibit 10 language.
Lawson, who went undrafted on July 29, put up 16.6 PPG and 4.1 RPG with a .351 3PT% in 21 games (31.3 MPG) as a junior for South Carolina in 2020/21. The 6’6″ shooting guard earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team.
Shortly after the draft, Lawson reportedly reached an agreement to sign with the Heat, then joined the team for Summer League play. However, he left Miami’s Summer League club in Las Vegas in order to join the Hawks’ SL squad, which was a pretty clear indication that he no longer intended to attend training camp with the Heat. Instead, it appears he’ll do so with Atlanta.
With the signing, the Hawks now have 14 players on guaranteed contracts, two on Exhibit 10 deals (Lawson and Johnny Hamilton) and one on a two-way pact (Sharife Cooper). Atlanta also has a two-way qualifying offer out to Skylar Mays and reportedly intends to sign undrafted rookie Ibi Watson to an Exhibit 10 contract.
Community Shootaround: Best, Worst Big-Money FA Deals
At least one 2021 NBA free agent who remains unsigned – Lauri Markkanen – is a candidate to receive an eight-figure annual salary this offseason, but it’s probably safe to assume that any deal Markkanen signs won’t crack this summer’s top 10 free agent contracts.
Based on information from our free agent tracker, there have been 10 free agent contracts signed this offseason that include at least $75MM in guaranteed money. They are as follows:
- Kawhi Leonard, Clippers: Four years, $176.27MM (fourth-year player option)
- John Collins, Hawks: Five years, $125MM (fifth-year player option)
- Jarrett Allen, Cavaliers: Five years, $100MM
- Norman Powell, Trail Blazers: Five years, $90MM
- Duncan Robinson, Heat: Five years, $90MM (fifth-year early termination option)
- Kyle Lowry, Heat: Three years, $85MM
- DeMar DeRozan, Bulls: Three years, $81.9MM
- Lonzo Ball, Bulls: Four years, $80MM (fourth-year player option)
- Chris Paul, Suns: Four years, $120MM ($75MM fully guaranteed)
- Tim Hardaway Jr., Mavericks: Four years, $75MM
While some teams come to regret their long-term, big-money free agent commitments within a couple years, several of these deals have the potential to age pretty well. Collins, Allen, and Ball, for instance, are all still just 23 years old, meaning they still have many prime years ahead of them and could even continue improving.
Signing a two-time NBA Finals MVP and a perennial All-NBA candidate like Leonard to a long-term contract is also rarely a bad move, even if it’s for maximum-salary money. However, it’s a riskier proposition when the player in question is recovering from ACL surgery and isn’t a lock to play at all during the first year of the deal. The Clippers are confident that Leonard will make a full recovery, but his health issues – both past and present – create some cause for concern.
Lowry and Paul earned significant guarantees, given their respective ages (35 and 36). The Suns, at least, will get some protection in the third and fourth years of Paul’s contract, but if they waive CP3 before his third year fully guarantees, they’d end up paying him $75MM for just two seasons.
Powell, Robinson, and Hardaway are all talented contributors, but they’re role players, not stars. If their production falls off at all, those deals could become onerous in their later years.
Finally, DeRozan is one of the league’s most talented mid-range scorers and has improved as a facilitator, but he doesn’t stretch the floor and is a below-average defender. A three-year deal worth $27MM per season is a significant price to pay for a Bulls team that also surrendered a first-round pick to acquire DeRozan via sign-and-trade.
We want to know what you think. Which of these big-money 2021 contracts would you feel most comfortable about having on your team? Which do you view as the riskiest or most misguided investment?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Knicks Notes: Fournier, Gibson, Rose, Burks
The Knicks have formally announced many of their offseason free agent signings in recent days, with new deals for Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Taj Gibson all becoming official.
We’re still waiting on the team to finalize its four-year extension for Julius Randle, along with some minor signings like Dwayne Bacon. But the flurry of transactions this week means that we now have details on several of the Knicks’ new contracts. Let’s dive in and round them up…
- As we relayed earlier today, Evan Fournier has $1.5MM per year in unlikely incentives on his new four-year deal. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Instagram video), the majority of those bonuses are related to team success — Fournier would earn an extra $1MM, for instance, if the Knicks were to win the title. There are also bonuses related to All-Star and All-NBA nods, which are a long shot to be earned.
- Taj Gibson‘s new two-year deal features a team option for the 2022/23 season, according to Marks.
- Marks says the cap hits on Derrick Rose‘s new three-year contract are $13.4MM, $14.5MM, and $15.6MM. Those are likely rounded figures, as the most the Knicks could’ve offered Rose using his Early Bird rights was approximately $13.445MM in year one, $14.521MM in year two, and $15.596MM in year three. The deal, which includes a third-year team option, comes in at about $43.56MM.
- Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets the details of Alec Burks‘ three-year, $30MM+ contract, which are identical to what Burks would’ve received if he were signed using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The Knicks used cap room to sign Burks, but as Marks observes, they may have structured the agreement that way early in free agency in case they found a way to stay over the cap all offseason and needed the MLE for Burks.
Checking In On Unsigned 2021 NBA Draft Picks
When Usman Garuba officially signed his rookie contract with Houston earlier this week, he became the 30th and final first-round pick from the 2021 draft to sign his first NBA deal. There will be no draft-and-stash players among this year’s first-rounders — they’re all now officially on NBA rosters.
As our tracker shows, another 23 second-rounders from this year’s draft class have also signed their first NBA contracts or – in Joe Wieskamp‘s case – agreed to a deal that should be officially completed soon.
That leaves just seven prospects from 2021’s 60-player draft class who have yet to be signed. They are as follows:
- New York Knicks: Rokas Jokubaitis, G, Lithuania
- Boston Celtics: Juhann Begarin, G, France
- Brooklyn Nets: Marcus Zegarowski, G, Creighton
- Philadelphia 76ers: Filip Petrusev, F, Serbia
- Philadelphia 76ers: Charles Bassey, C, Western Kentucky
- Detroit Pistons: Balsa Koprivica, C, Florida State
- Brooklyn Nets: RaiQuan Gray, F, Florida State
Of these seven players, at least three appear on track to spend the 2021/22 season in Europe. Jokubaitis returned to his team in Barcelona following his Summer League stint with the Knicks, while Petrusev signed with Turkish team Anadolu Efes after playing for the Sixers in Summer League. Begarin, who also played in Summer League for the Celtics, will likely end up heading back overseas to France
That leaves just four true unsigned second-round picks, including a pair of Nets. It will be interesting to see what Brooklyn’s plans are for Zegarowski and Gray. The team currently has 13 players on guaranteed contracts and one on a two-way deal, so there could conceivably be room for Zegarowski on the 15-man squad, with Gray getting the other two-way deal.
However, DeAndre’ Bembry has a partially guaranteed contract and looks like a good bet to make the Nets’ regular-season roster, and Reggie Perry (free agent) and David Duke (Exhibit 10) are among the other candidates to get a two-way deal from the team. It’s also not clear if Brooklyn intends to carry a full 15-man roster to start the season, since leaving a roster spot open would create major tax savings for the franchise.
I could envision a scenario in which Zegarowski signs a two-way contract and Gray signs a G League deal to play for the Long Island Nets, but that’s just my speculation. There are still a number of ways the Nets could go.
Meanwhile, prospects drafted in the 50s like Bassey (No. 53) and Koprivica (No. 57) are generally good candidates for two-way deals, but the Sixers and Pistons have recently filled both of their two-way openings. Perhaps Philadelphia envisions Bassey taking Anthony Tolliver‘s spot on the 15-man roster, since Tolliver is on a non-guaranteed contract.
It’ll be trickier for Detroit to find a roster spot for Koprivica. The Pistons already have 15 players on guaranteed contracts and still may re-sign restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo. Stashing Koprivica overseas or in the G League could be the plan. Koprivica was born and raised in Serbia, so he might be more comfortable spending a season overseas than a typical NCAA draftee would be.
Eastern Notes: Fournier, C. Smith, Windler, Madar
Originally reported as being a four-year deal that could be worth up to $78MM, Evan Fournier‘s new contract with the Knicks could actually max out at $79MM, but only has a base value of $73MM, according to breakdowns from Bobby Marks of ESPN and Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter links). The deal, which has a fourth-year team option, includes $1.5MM in annual unlikely incentives that account for that $6MM difference.
The exact value of Fournier’s first-year salary is $17,142,857, according to Smith. That figure is important because the traded player exception created by the Celtics in their sign-and-trade of Fournier to the Knicks is equivalent to that amount. Boston will have until the 2022 offseason to use that $17.14MM trade exception.
Here’s more from around the East:
- The two-way contract that undrafted rookie Chris Smith signed with the Pistons will cover two seasons, according to Keith Smith (Twitter link).
- A first-round pick in 2019, Cavaliers wing Dylan Windler tells Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com that his NBA career has been a “really bumpy and rough road” so far. Windler, who is recovering from left knee surgery, has been limited to 31 NBA games in two seasons due to various health issues and acknowledges that he may be facing a make-or-break season. “I don’t really want to put that much pressure on myself, but in reality, yeah it is,” Windler said to Fedor. “The league is a hard place to stick around. Not a lot of guys last. I’m just hoping this season I can be fully healthy and pain free and then I will be able to show people what I can do when I’m at 100 percent. If that isn’t enough, then at the end of the day, you have to live with that.”
- KK Partizan officially announced the signing of Celtics draft-and-stash guard Yam Madar to a three-year contract. While the Serbian team’s press release doesn’t mention NBA outs, Madar’s new deal will likely give him the opportunity to come stateside if and when Boston is ready to add the 2020 second-rounder to its roster, but it appears that won’t happen in 2021/22.
Knicks Re-Sign Taj Gibson To Two-Year Contract
AUGUST 18: The Knicks have officially re-signed Gibson, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
AUGUST 17: The Knicks and veteran big man Taj Gibson have reached an agreement to adjust the terms of the deal they initially agreed upon two weeks ago, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Gibson, who had been set to sign a one-year, minimum-salary deal, will actually receive a two-year deal worth $10.1MM, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Wojnarowski.
The Knicks have been slowly completing their offseason signings, starting with Nerlens Noel, Kemba Walker, and – most recently – Evan Fournier. New deals for Derrick Rose, Alec Burks, and Gibson have yet to be announced as New York determines the best way to maximize its cap space.
We’ll have to wait for more details on the adjustment to Gibson’s deal, but it sounds as if the Knicks determined they were in position to accommodate a slightly more lucrative salary for the 36-year-old. It’s a win-win for Gibson, who gets rewarded for his locker-room leadership over the last two seasons, and for the Knicks, who will now have a more tradable contract on the books without sacrificing any real cap flexibility.
The Knicks will use their room exception to complete the signing, as Bobby Marks of ESPN confirms (via Twitter). That exception allows for a two-year deal worth $10,065,500. New York had Early Bird rights on Gibson, but renounced him earlier in free agency in order to maximize cap room.
Gibson appeared in 45 games for the Knicks during the 2020/21 season, averaging 5.4 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 20.8 minutes per contest. He figures to provide depth up front behind centers Mitchell Robinson and Noel next season.
Cavs Rumors: Valentine, Reddish, Hartenstein, Kabengele
The Cavaliers remain on the hunt for a wing who can play rotation minutes, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that Denzel Valentine is among the free agents drawing interest from the team.
Valentine, 27, spent the first five years of his NBA career in Chicago. He had a promising 2017/18 season (10.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.2 APG, .386 3PT%), but missed all of the ’18/19 campaign due to an ankle injury and has provided inconsistent production since then.
Here’s more on the Cavaliers from Fedor:
- The Cavs have interest in adding a third point guard and/or a backup center. However, Fedor believes addressing the wing remains Cleveland’s top priority — the point guard spot would be next, followed by the five.
- The Cavs have been exploring the trade market as they search for another wing, but appear unwilling to part with a first-round pick – even if it’s protected – for any of the currently-available options, Fedor writes. The club has been in contact with the Hawks about Cam Reddish, Fedor adds.
- Sources tell Cleveland.com that the door remains open for free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein to re-sign with the Cavs. Assistant GM Mike Gansey watched Hartenstein work out for teams in Las Vegas, according to Fedor, who says the Thunder, Clippers, and Nets also had reps in attendance. If the Cavs were to sign Hartenstein or another center, Mfiondu Kabengele‘s roster spot would be in jeopardy, Fedor notes.