Wizards Sign Chase Audige To Exhibit 10 Contract
The Wizards have signed Chase Audige to an Exhibit 10 contract, the team announced (via Twitter).
Audige went undrafted in June, making him an unrestricted free agent. After spending his freshman year at William & Mary, the 6’4″ guard transferred to Northwestern, playing three more college seasons with the Wildcats.
As a senior in 2022/23, Audige averaged 14.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.9 APG and 2.4 SPG in 34 games (34.4 MPG), though he struggled with scoring efficiency (.368/.325/.832 shooting line).
Audige played for the Heat’s Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 5.4 PPG, 1.4 APG and 1.2 SPG over five games (14.0 MPG). Miami reportedly had interest in signing him to an Exhibit 10 deal ahead of training camp, but Audige decided to accept an Exhibit 10 offer from an unknown team — which turned out to be the Wizards — because he thought he’d have a better shot at making the regular season roster.
The decision makes sense. While Washington’s standard roster will have to be trimmed to 15 before the season begins (it currently has 17 players on guaranteed deals), the Wizards have one two-way slot open, and Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals. The Heat currently do not have a two-way opening.
Audige would also be eligible for a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived before the season starts and spends at least 60 days with Washington’s G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.
The Wizards had 20 players under contract — one shy of the offseason limit — prior to signing Audige, so they won’t have to make another roster move to add him. Their roster is now full ahead of training camp.
Connelly Says Wolves Want McDaniels “To Be Here As Long As Possible”
As a former first-round pick entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels is eligible for a rookie scale extension until the day before the 2023/24 regular season starts.
Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said after last season ended that both Anthony Edwards and McDaniels would receive lucrative extension offers this offseason once they became eligible. Edwards signed a maximum-salary deal in July, but McDaniels has yet to ink his own new contract.
Speaking to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic on his podcast, Connelly was hopeful about coming to terms on an extension with the young forward, who turns 23 next week.
“We’d love to get something done,” Connelly told Krawcyznski. “We want Jaden to be here as long as possible. Oftentimes those back-and-forths pick up more as the season gets closer, but fingers crossed. In my experience in Denver and here, we like to reward people who earned it. Jaden is a huge part of what we’re doing now. He’s going to get better and better and better. Great kid. And we think his best basketball is in front of him.
“As I told Jaden and his representation, the cool thing about extension talks is they should be overwhelmingly positive. The fact that you want an extension speaks to the team’s excitement about his upside. Very few guys are fortunate to get extensions, so again we’re hopeful we can meet that point where we’re both happy with something moving forward. I think he’s going to have a good year and we hope he’s here for a long, long time.”
Players eligible for rookie scale extensions can sign new deals that run for up to five years, with those contracts taking effect beginning in ’24/25. If they don’t sign extensions this offseason, those players will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2024.
When we covered him as an extension candidate, we projected McDaniels could receive a deal in the range of $25MM annually — it will be interesting to see how much he actually makes if a deal comes to fruition.
Middleton On Giannis’ Comments: “Business As Usual”
In an interview with ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Bucks wing Khris Middleton says he wasn’t surprised to hear two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo openly discuss the possibility of leaving Milwaukee in the future if a better opportunity to win titles presents itself.
Eric Nehm of The Athletic previously wrote that the Bucks were well aware that Antetokounmpo’s foremost desire is to continue winning championships, which Middleton confirms.
“I think it’s kind of business as usual either way,” Middleton told ESPN. “It doesn’t affect me personally. I don’t think it affects us as a team. I think this is something he said almost every year he’s come up in contract extension talks.
“We always want him back for sure. Let’s be for sure and let everyone know that. We want this guy to come back because he’s one of the best players in the world. He’s one of the best players in franchise history. So when he says things like that, I think he just wants to challenge the team, the organization, to keep putting us in position to win championships.
“But I think it’s just something that he just wants to keep putting pressure on everybody. And that’s himself also. He’s not just pointing a finger at everybody else saying, ‘You guys have to do this for me.’ I think he’s putting that pressure on himself to be better, to come in and be great every year. So there’s no pressure on, there’s no added pressure when he says that to us as a team, or me as a person, that I have to be better.”
Here are a few more highlights from Bontemps’ interview with Middleton, which is worth reading in full:
- A three-time All-Star, Middleton re-signed with the Bucks this offseason on a three-year deal that could be worth up to $102MM, though the base value is $93MM. He admits he wasn’t sure if he would return after the East’s No. 1 seed lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2022/23. “I didn’t have a feel of what was going to happen,” Middleton said. “I was a free agent also, (and a player) that was coming off two injuries. I didn’t know if I was going to be the one that, you know, was going to move on, or a coach or another player. I think this time it just happened to be (former head coach Mike Budenholzer), which kind of caught us by surprise a little bit. But I think we kind of knew something was going to happen. Something was going to have to change for us to get to that next level as a team, as an organization.” The Bucks hired first-time head coach Adrian Griffin to replace Budenholzer.
- Bontemps brought up the team’s aging core, with Middleton (32), Jrue Holiday (33) and Brook Lopez (35) all well into their 30s. Like Middleton, Lopez re-signed with Milwaukee in free agency, inking a two-year, $48MM deal. Holiday, meanwhile, could be a free agent next summer if he declines his player option for ’24/25. Despite their advancing ages, Middleton thinks the team still has a runway to contend for titles. “I know Jrue’s a guy that he still has a lot left in the tank no matter his age. … I hope he’s excited to come back, to sign an extension and be with us for a couple more years. … I think we have a good amount of years left where we could play at a high level and be a contender. And that doesn’t happen unless we have Jrue back also.”
- After being limited to just 33 regular season games last season, Middleton said he’s glad to be healthy entering ’23/24. As Bontemps outlines, Middleton had wrist surgery in the 2022 offseason and dealt with a knee injury throughout ’22/23, which eventually required surgery. “This summer’s just been kind of about getting myself back together into being back to my old, natural self, as healthy as I can be, which I think I’m headed in that direction,” Middleton said.
Magic’s Mosley Talks Banchero, F. Wagner, Fultz, More
Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley recently spoke to Michael Scotto on the latest edition of the HoopsHype podcast. The conversation covered a number of topics, including how Mosley got his start in coaching, working with former Hall of Fame players and current stars, his time coaching the U.S. Select Team this summer, and, of course, the Magic.
Mosley is bullish on Orlando’s young talent. Reigning Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero played for Team USA at the World Cup, and while the Americans had a disappointing fourth-place finish, Mosley liked what he saw from the 2022 No. 1 overall pick.
“I think the sky is the limit (for 2023/24),” Mosley said. “(Banchero) being with Team USA and seeing the different aspects of how people adjusted their games to fit in with what was trying to be accomplished. He did that. He’s capable of doing so many things. At the beginning of the year, he played basically point for us at times with Franz Wagner when we had our guards down. More importantly, I watched his jump defensively and ability to switch pick-and-rolls and stay in coverage. They had him playing the five mixed with the four. I thought it was great that he expanded his game in real time. I think it’ll do wonders for him on the court.
“Even more importantly, his voice and leadership. I watched him during a practice in Las Vegas and the way he carried himself and projected his voice in certain drills. I think that’s going to go so far when he’s back with the Magic because it’s a level of leadership you’re asking him to step into. I think he recognizes and feels that. It was a great experience for him to be around that group of players and those coaches.”
As for Wagner, who helped Germany to a gold medal, Mosley said he wasn’t surprised by the third-year forward’s success, and once again focused on the less glamorous end of the court.
“For Franz, I think people got to see a glimpse of what we’ve known for quite some time,” Mosley told Scotto. “Since we’ve drafted him, we’ve talked about his high basketball IQ, his work ethic, care for the game and attention to detail. He has all of those pieces. I joke with him that he’s a 40-year-old man in a 22-year-old body. He just sees the game so differently, and he cares about the little things. He cares about people.
“What I saw was his defensive ability to show. Franz did a great job of switching when it came to guard certain guards. I think that’s going to be the biggest key as he comes back here. Our ability to guard, which I was so happy to watch them (Banchero and Wagner) do at times, is going to skyrocket us to what we’re capable of doing.”
When Scotto asked about the Magic’s offseason, Mosley said he was happy to have “consistency and stability” with most of the roster returning. Regarding expectations for 2023/24, the coach said he’s more focused on the Magic improving via “continuity, joy, togetherness, and grit” rather than wins and losses, because if they handle those aspects the “wins will take care of themselves.”
Another former No. 1 overall pick, guard Markelle Fultz, is entering the final year of his contract, which will pay him $17MM in 2023/24. Mosley thinks Fultz is ready to take “big strides” ahead of free agency next summer.
“I think Markelle’s ability to continue to lead because he’s such a selfless point guard,” Mosley said, per Scotto. “He wants to share and enjoys seeing the success of his teammates. That’s what we’re going to ask more of him. Defensively, being able to guard the ball because his level of physicality is up there. I think he’s going to set the tone in a lot of ways for us. He has such a high ceiling of where he can go because of how he’s been working this summer.”
Neemias Queta Signs Two-Way Deal With Celtics
SEPTEMBER 19: The Celtics have officially signed Queta to a two-way contract, the team announced on Tuesday in a press release.
SEPTEMBER 16: Free agent center Neemias Queta is signing a two-way contract with the Celtics, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).
Queta played three college seasons at Utah State before Sacramento drafted him 39th overall in 2021. He spent his first two professional seasons with the Kings on two-way contracts, appearing in 20 total NBA games for an average of 7.5 MPG.
While his role with the Kings was modest, Queta excelled in the G League with their affiliate in Stockton. In 2022/23, he earned a spot on the All-NBAGL First Team and finishing second in MVP voting. He averaged 16.8 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.9 BPG in 27.7 MPG across 29 regular season appearances for the Stockton Kings.
Queta, who is the NBA’s first player from Portugal, was a restricted free this summer. He ultimately signed a partially guaranteed two-year deal to return to the Kings, but was waived this week after the team signed JaVale McGee to a guaranteed contract.
It’s worth noting that the 7’0″ big man sustained a stress reaction and sprain in his right foot during July Summer League action. However, that was more than two months ago, and clearly the Celtics are comfortable with Queta’s health.
As James Ham of The Kings Beat tweets, Boston could be a good landing spot for Queta. Kristaps Porzingis and Robert Williams have dealt with numerous injuries over the years, and Al Horford is 37. The only other big man on the roster is Luke Kornet, whose contract for 2023/24 is non-guaranteed.
Queta’s two-way deal will pay him $559,782 and will make him eligible to appear in up to 50 regular season contests. Once the signing is official, the Celtics will have 18 players under contract, with all three two-way slots filled.
And-Ones: J. Howard, Canada, Player Participation
Former NBA big man and current Michigan head coach Juwan Howard underwent successful heart surgery on Friday, writes Tom Wywrot of the team’s website.
After a routine medical exam, it was discovered that Howard had an aortic aneurysm, which was successfully resected. His aortic valve was also repaired. The surgeon who performed the operation said Howard is expected to make a full recovery in six-to-12 weeks and could return to coaching in four-to-six weeks.
Associate head coach Phil Martelli will be the interim head coach while Howard recovers, according to Wywrot.
Howard, 50, played 19 years in the NBA, making his lone All-Star appearance in 1995/96. He won a pair of championships in a minor role with the Heat at the end of his playing career.
Howard’s son, Jett Howard, played under his father at Michigan and was selected 11th overall in June’s draft by Orlando.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca recently sat down for a lengthy interview with Canadian national team executive VP and GM Rowan Barrett following Canada’s historic bronze medal at the World Cup. When asked if the team would change its roster ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Barrett said it would be “irresponsible” to speculate at this point, because there are external factors at play, including the long NBA season. However, he did discuss what the national team would be looking for in broader terms. “Our focus is not to create an All-Star team,” Barrett said, per Grange. “We need to create the best team. And I think the proof of that was this summer. Our team was not an All-NBA, All-Star team. We had guys mixed in from the summer core and the winter core. There were some guys that just set screens; some guys, they were there just to pass the ball. Some guys weren’t going to play a lot, but they were there to scream out assignments and coverages to help guys execute the game plan. Some guys, the majority of their energy was in practice to make sure the practice level was high. And you can have subtraction by addition, too. So, we’ve got to be very careful, and very thoughtful and very strategic about how we’re going to build this team.”
- Will the NBA strictly implement its new player participation policy? Or will the league take a lax stance under certain circumstances? Brian Windhorst of ESPN explored that topic on NBA Today (YouTube link), noting that the rules will drastically impact some teams but others won’t have to worry about it at all, since those clubs haven’t had any All-Stars or All-NBA players for the past three seasons.
- In case you missed it, we published another And-Ones post yesterday and also passed along some international notes.
Community Shootaround: Warriors’ Roster Spots
The Warriors have made some significant changes to their roster this offseason, drafting Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, trading for Chris Paul, and signing veterans Cory Joseph and Dario Saric in free agency. They also re-signed former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green, and Lester Quinones is back in the fold as well, returning on a two-way deal after accepting his qualifying offer.
In more recent news, the Golden State reached agreements with former Rockets big man Usman Garuba (two-way) and former Hawks wing Donovan Williams (camp deal). Williams will reportedly compete for a roster spot in training camp after impressing the Warriors during scrimmages at their facility.
Once those two deals are official, the Warriors will have 16 players under contract, including 13 players on guaranteed standard deals, with one two-way slot open. Since they’re above the NBA’s second tax apron, they can only offer free agents the veteran’s minimum.
Over the past month-plus, the Warriors have reportedly been holding workouts with a number of veteran free agents. Some of the players mentioned include former Warriors Kent Bazemore and Juan Toscano-Anderson, veteran wings Jaylen Nowell, Will Barton and Stanley Johnson, plus big men Dewayne Dedmon, Tony Bradley and Derrick Favors, among others.
Interestingly, they’re also meeting with free agent center Dwight Howard next week, who is by far the most accomplished player of the group, though he’s also 37 years old and was out of the league last season, having played in Taiwan. An eight-time All-NBA member and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Howard averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game (60 appearances) for the Lakers in 2021/22.
Golden State will need to add at least one more player to its 15-man standard roster for opening night, with Howard reportedly a “real option” to fill a spot. Due to the Warriors’ luxury tax situation, they might only carry 14 players for most of the season — that’s what happened in ’22/23, as they waited until mid-March to promote Anthony Lamb from a two-way deal. Lamb wasn’t given a qualifying offer this summer, so he remains an unrestricted free agent.
If the Warriors have fewer than 15 players on standard contracts, they’ll only be able to use their two-way players for up to 90 combined games, as we explain in our glossary entry. Having a full 15-man roster and all three two-way slots filled would create more options off the bench, as two-way players are each eligible to appear in up to 50 games.
Williams seems like a decent candidate for the last two-way spot. But the bigger question is, who should the Warriors sign to fill out their standard roster? Head to the comments section and let us know what you think.
Mavericks Re-Sign Markieff Morris
The Mavericks have re-signed free agent forward Markieff Morris, the team announced in a press release.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but given his modest role last season, it seems likely that the 34-year-old signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract. We’ll have to wait and see if he got any guaranteed money, but Morris, who is entering his 13th season, would earn just under $3.2MM on a minimum deal, while Dallas would carry a $2,019,706 cap hit.
Morris was sent to Dallas from Brooklyn in early February as part of the Kyrie Irving trade. He was averaging a career-low 10.6 minutes per game in 27 appearances for the Nets and said he was looking for an opportunity for more playing time after the deal, but Morris played even less for the Mavs, averaging just 8.8 minutes over eight appearances. That average is actually inflated — he played 26 minutes in the team’s final game, when Dallas was trying to lose to keep its lottery pick.
While he hasn’t found much individual success in recent seasons, Morris played all 21 playoff games for the Lakers in 2019/20 when they won the championship. The longtime veteran holds career regular season averages of 10.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 750 games (378 starts, 24.1 minutes), with a shooting slash line of .446/.343/.778.
The Mavericks waived and then used the stretch provision on JaVale McGee to free up a roster spot for Morris. McGee later signed a guaranteed one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Kings after clearing waivers.
With Morris officially signed, the Mavs now have 20 players under contract, one shy of the offseason limit. They have one two-way slot open, as our tracker shows.
Trail Blazers Notes: Lillard, Trade Talks, Devoe
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN gets the sense that the Trail Blazers‘ trade talks regarding Damian Lillard have picked up over the past couple weeks, he said on NBA Today (YouTube link).
Talks had largely been dormant for over a month, but training camp is just a few weeks away, so teams are trying to complete rosters before the season begins in late October.
“I think Portland, what they’ve been trying to do is see how they can put together multi-team deals that would get them the assets that they would want — young players, draft picks,” Wojnarowski said. “There might be a team that their best asset is a veteran player that doesn’t interest the Blazers, but there’s a third team who might want to take on that veteran and then send, whether it’s a young player or picks, in part, to Portland.
“So I think they’ve been in communication with a lot of teams trying to find a structure of a deal. … We’ll see how much traction they can get between now and the start of camp.”
People within the Blazers and around the league expect that Lillard will report to camp if a trade hasn’t occurred, according to Wojnarowski, who says that scenario would be “uncomfortable” and “may be unpleasant, but it won’t be unprofessional.” Having Lillard away from the team while Portland searches for a deal isn’t an option under the new player participation policy, Woj notes.
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- At ESPN.com (Insider link), Tim Bontemps, Kevin Pelton, Andre Snellings and Andrew Lopez came up with hypothetical Lillard trades that were evaluated by their colleague Bobby Marks, a former assistant GM with the Nets. Lillard hopes to be traded to the Heat. Bontemps proposes a straight-up swap that sends Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic to Miami in exchange for Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, 2027 and 2029 first-round picks, and 2028 and 2030 first-round swaps. The other proposals involve the Sixers, Clippers, Pelicans and Raptors.
- The Rip City Remix — Portland’s new NBA G League affiliate — have acquired a 2024 NBAGL first-rounder from the Salt Lake City Stars (Twitter link). The Remix sent the Jazz‘s affiliate the returning player rights to Michael Devoe. Devoe, who played college ball at Georgia Tech, signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Clippers last fall, but was waived before the season started. He spent 2022/23 with their G League affiliate, the Ontario Clippers.
- In case you missed it, commissioner Adam Silver recently said the NBA won’t do anything to force the sale of the Trail Blazers. You can find more details here.
International Notes: Parker, W. Hernangomez, Lin, Scariolo, NBL
Spanish club Barcelona added a couple NBA veterans this offseason in Jabari Parker and Willy Hernangomez. Parker, the former No. 2 overall pick, was out of the league last season, while Hernangomez played for the Pelicans.
Álex Biescas of AS.com has some highlights from the team’s introductory press conference (hat tip to Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops).
“It was an opportunity in every way,” Parker said. “I was talking to a couple of teams but I didn’t feel like I had to go there. Only when I arrived here did I feel the opposite. I don’t have years to wait. I want to be here and do great things.”
As for Hernangomez, he’ll be returning to his home country and the Liga ACB, Spain’s top league. He played for Sevilla and Barcelona’s longtime rival Real Madrid prior to his seven-year NBA stint.
“I knew I was coming to a great club, but I’m better than I expected,” Hernangomez said, per Biescas. “Super at ease, adapted and very happy with the reception. I noticed the enthusiasm of the fans.”
Here are a few more international notes:
- Jeremy Lin is continuing his playing career with the New Taipei Kings of Taiwan’s P.League+, as Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays. Lin, who holds nine years of NBA experience, last played in the league for Toronto back in 2018/19. The 35-year-old guard has spent three of the past four seasons in China, with a G League stint in-between. Former second-rounder Tony Mitchell, who had a brief NBA stint with Detroit in 2013/14, will also be joining the Taipei Kings.
- Italy’s Virtus Bologna has dismissed head coach Sergio Scariolo ahead of the upcoming season, the team announced in a press release. A Raptors assistant from 2018-21, Scariolo received two interviews this spring for Toronto’s lead coaching vacancy, which was filled by Darko Rajakovic. The EuroLeague’s head coaches board expressed support for Scariolo, who is also the head coach of the Spanish national team. Bologna has hired Luca Banchi as a replacement (Twitter link). Banchi is head coach of Latvia’s national team, winning the Best Coach award at the World Cup after a fifth-place finish. It was Latvia’s first-ever appearance at the World Cup.
- The National Basketball League and the Australian Basketball Players’ Association announced the completion of a new CBA ahead of the upcoming NBL season, tweets Olgun Uluc of ESPN. Uluc passes along some details from the agreement.