Dj Steward Rumors | Hoops Rumors

NBA G League Announces Participants For 2025 Up Next Event

January 29th, 2025 at 2:44pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA G League announced today that 27 players have been selected to participate in the 2025 Up Next event at the NBA’s All-Star weekend next month in San Francisco.

The event – which highlights standout players at the G League level and essentially serves as the NBAGL All-Star Game – features a tournament-style format with four teams made up of seven players apiece. Those clubs face one another in semifinals (first team to 30 points), with the winners meeting in the final. All three games will be played on the afternoon of Sunday, February 16, ahead of the NBA’s All-Star Game.

Ten players for the next Up Next pool are selected by fan votes, while the other 18 are selected by the league. Here are the players who have been named as participants for the 2025 event:

Fan voting

Note: Players are listed in order of votes received. Players marked with an asterisk (*) are on two-way contracts with an NBA team.

Yuki Kawamura (Memphis Hustle) *
Justin Champagnie (Capital City Go-Go) *
Jahlil Okafor (Indiana Mad Ants)
Adama Sanogo (Windy City Bulls) *
Skal Labissiere (Stockton Kings)
Kevon Harris (College Park Skyhawks)
Maozinha Pereira (Memphis Hustle)
Trevelin Queen (Osceola Magic) *
Armando Bacot (Memphis Hustle)
Keisei Tominaga (Indiana Mad Ants)

G League selections

Note: Players are listed in alphabetical order. Players marked with an asterisk (*) are on two-way contracts with an NBA team.

Moses Brown (Westchester Knicks)
Josh Christopher (Sioux Falls Skyforce) *
Jeff Dowtin (Delaware Blue Coats) *
PJ Hall (Grand Rapids Gold) *
Elijah Harkless (Salt Lake City Stars) *
Isaac Jones (Stockton Kings) *
A.J. Lawson (Raptors 905) *
Isaiah Miller (Austin Spurs)
Jaylen Nowell (Capital City Go-Go)
Dink Pate (Mexico City Capitanes)
Daeqwon Plowden (College Park Skyhawks) *
Quinten Post (Santa Cruz Warriors) *
Lester Quinones (Birmingham Squadron)
DJ Steward (Memphis Hustle)
TyTy Washington Jr. (Valley Suns) *
Alondes Williams (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Jahmir Young (Grand Rapids Gold)

The G League announced 27 names today, leaving the pool one player shy of the 28 required for four seven-player teams. However, the NBAGL’s announcement says two more participants will be named at a later date to round out the player pool.

It’s unclear if there’s a math error happening here or if Pate will need to be replaced since he’s also participating in the Rising Stars event. Further confusing matters is the fact that Williams’ name shows up in the graphic released by the G League but not in the press release.

However it happens, the Up Next player pool will eventually increase to 28 names, with those players drafted into four teams by a quartet of “influencer” general managers and then coached by G League coaches at All-Star weekend.

Bulls Sign Emanuel Miller To Two-Way Deal, Waive DJ Steward

December 28th, 2024 at 10:15am CST by Rory Maher

DECEMBER 28: The Bulls officially signed Miller to his two-way contract, according to a release from the team. The team waived Steward to make room for Miller. Steward didn’t appear in a game for the Bulls but averaged 19.9 points and 7.5 assists per contest in the G League this season.

DECEMBER 27: The Bulls are signing free agent forward Emanuel Miller to a two-way contract, agents Mike George and Shy Saee tell Jamal Collier of ESPN (Twitter link).

Miller went undrafted in 2024 after playing five collegiate seasons — two at Texas A&M and then his final three at TCU. In 2023/24 with the Horned Frogs, Miller averaged 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals while posting a .486/.383/.815 shooting line in 34 games (32.6 minutes).

The 24-year-old signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Mavericks over the summer, then was waived before the ’24/25 season began. He has posted impressive numbers for their G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, averaging 18.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals on .483/.375/.750 shooting in 16 games (37.5 minutes).

As our tracker shows, Chicago’s two-way spots are currently occupied by Adama Sanogo, DJ Steward and E.J. Liddell. One of those players will have to be released to make room for Miller.

A native of Canada, Miller is the older brother of Timberwolves forward Leonard Miller.

Assuming he officially signs with Chicago on Friday or Saturday, Miller will be eligible to appear in up to 31 NBA games this season, a prorated portion of the usual 50-game limit.

Contract Details: Mobley, Hauser, Reeves, Mamukelashvili

July 25th, 2024 at 7:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Evan Mobley‘s new maximum-salary extension with the Cavaliers features a 15% trade kicker and is fully guaranteed, with no player or team option on the fifth year, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

As Brian Windhorst previously reported, Mobley’s deal includes multiple levels of Rose Rule incentives and could end up starting at either 25%, 27.5%, or 30% of the 2025/26 cap, depending on whether the big man earns end-of-season honors next season. According to Windhorst, a spot on the All-NBA Third Team would bump Mobley’s starting salary to 27.5% of the cap, but he’d have to make one of the top two teams or win Defensive Player of the Year to increase that figure to 30%.

Here are a few more details on recently signed NBA contracts:

Sam Hauser‘s four-year extension with the Celtics is worth exactly $45MM, as previously reported, and has a straightforward ascending structure with 8% annual raises, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan. Hauser’s contract starts at just over $10MM in 2025/26 and increases to nearly $12.5MM by the fourth year (2028/29).
Antonio Reeves‘ three-year, minimum-salary contract with the Pelicans is only fully guaranteed for the 2024/25 season, Hoops Rumors has learned. Reeves’ second-year salary would become 50% guaranteed if he remains under contract through at least July 23, 2025, while his third-year team option is non-guaranteed.
Sandro Mamukelashvili‘s one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Spurs is fully guaranteed, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Mamukelashvili also waived his right to veto a trade. San Antonio has 14 players with guaranteed salaries for 2024/25, with a 15th player (Julian Champagnie) on a non-guaranteed standard contract.
The two-way contracts recently signed by Jeff Dowtin (Sixers), Jay Huff (Grizzlies), and DJ Steward (Bulls) are each for one season.

Bulls Sign DJ Steward To Two-Way Contract

July 21st, 2024 at 7:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:34pm: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

9:00am: Summer League standout DJ Steward has agreed to a two-way contract with the Bulls, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The 22-year-old guard is coming off a 37-point performance in Friday’s win over Atlanta. He averaged 17.4 PPG in five Summer League games with Chicago while shooting 47% from the field and 40% from three-point range.

Steward is a Chicago-area player who was a highly regarded recruit out of high school in 2020. He played one season at Duke, then signed with the Kings after going undrafted in 2021.

Steward spent two years in the G League with Stockton before signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Celtics last September. He played for Boston’s G League affiliate in Maine last season.

The addition of Steward fills the Bulls’ last two-way opening. Andrew Funk and Adama Sanogo are also on two-way deals.

Celtics Waive Wenyen Gabriel, DJ Steward

October 20th, 2023 at 5:40pm CST by Luke Adams

5:40pm: Both Gabriel and DJ Steward have been officially waived by the Celtics, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

9:56am: The Celtics are placing big man Wenyen Gabriel on waivers ahead of the regular season, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

A four-year NBA veteran, Gabriel spent last season with the Lakers, appearing in 68 games and averaging 5.5 points and 4.2 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per night.

Gabriel signed with Boston at the start of training camp after the team included Robert Williams in its trade package for Jrue Holiday. Given the hit the Celtics’ frontcourt depth took in that deal, it appeared the 26-year-old had a path to a regular season roster spot.

However, Gabriel only received a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, which offered no assurances beyond training camp and the preseason, and he was outperformed by two-way player Neemias Queta this month. Boston has also typically kept a 15-man roster spot open into the regular season in recent years, notes Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).

In addition to their 10 players with guaranteed salaries, the Celtics have Luke Kornet, Svi Mykhailiuk, Dalano Banton, and Lamar Stevens on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed deals, with DJ Steward on an Exhibit 10 pact. It seems likely that Steward will be cut when Boston sets its regular season roster, with the other four making the team, though that has yet to be confirmed.

As for Gabriel, it’s unclear where his next stop might be. Since his contract with Boston didn’t include an Exhibit 10 bonus, he’s not an obvious candidate to join the Maine Celtics, the club’s G League affiliate.

DJ Steward Signs Training Camp Deal With Celtics

September 30th, 2023 at 7:25am CST by Arthur Hill

SEPTEMBER 30: Steward’s contract with Boston is now official, according to RealGM’s transaction log.

AUGUST 12: The Celtics have reached an agreement on a training camp contract with former Duke guard DJ Steward, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Sources tell Wojnarowski that Steward will be given a chance to earn a two-way contract. Boston has one spot open, with JD Davison and Jay Scrubb already holding two-way deals.

Steward signed with the Kings in 2021 and 2022 and wound up in the G League both years. In April, he joined the Vancouver Bandits in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.

The 21-year-old played for the Sixers in the Las Vegas Summer League, where he averaged 16.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in five games.

Steward’s signing will give the Celtics 16 players under contract, five short of the offseason limit.

Pacific Notes: McGee, Warriors, Kings, Vanderbilt, Vogel

September 8th, 2023 at 12:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings beat out the Warriors for free agent center JaVale McGee, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who suggests both Pacific clubs were in pursuit of the big man after he was waived by Dallas last week.

McGee’s new deal with Sacramento is only for one year and is worth the veteran’s minimum, but it’s fully guaranteed. It’s unclear whether or not Golden State was willing to offer a fully guaranteed contract to the former Warrior. According to Amick, the Kings envision McGee playing a “significant” role in 2023/24 if he shows he’s capable of handling it.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

The Stockton Kings – Sacramento’s G League affiliate – announced in a press release on Thursday that they’ve acquired Skal Labissiere‘s returning rights from the Mexico City Capitanes in a three-team trade that sent DJ Steward‘s rights to the Maine Celtics. Labissiere has agreed to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Kings, while Steward has reached an agreement on an Exhibit 10 deal with the Celtics. This trade will ensure both players are in line to receive their Exhibit 10 bonuses.
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt became extension-eligible on Thursday, notes Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Vanderbilt, whose maximum extension would be $75MM over four years, will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 if he doesn’t sign a new contract before then.
In a two-part interview with Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, new Suns head coach Frank Vogel discussed several topics, including the philosophy he’ll bring to his new job and what he’s looking for in Phoenix’s fifth starter alongside Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Deandre Ayton. “We’ll have a lot of guys that have an opportunity to be that fifth guy,” Vogel said. “The versatility of maybe being able to guard multiple positions or maybe it’s an elite shooter. Maybe it’s just another play-maker. I think we have a lot of guys with a lot of different skill sets and we’ll put a lot of different combinations throughout the year.”

Kings Waive DJ Steward

September 12th, 2022 at 5:52pm CST by Rory Maher

5:52pm: Steward has officially been waived, per NBA.com’s transactions log.

4:05pm: The Kings are waiving DJ Steward, a source tells James Ham of ESPN 1320 and TheKingsBeat.com (Twitter links).

According to Ham, if Steward doesn’t sign with another team, Sacramento is hopeful that he will rejoin the team’s G League affiliate in Stockton, who hold his returning player rights. His new deal, which he just inked last week, included a small partial guarantee for $50K.

A former McDonald’s All American, Steward spent his lone college season with Duke before going undrafted in 2021. He signed a training camp deal with the Kings last year but was waived before the start of the 2021/22 season.

Steward spent all of last season with the Stockton Kings, appearing in 30 regular season games (21 starts, 29.2 MPG) with averages of 14.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.4 APG and 1.0 SPG on .463/.331/.884 shooting. The 6’2″ guard also played 12 games (four starts, 21.9 MPG) with Stockton during the Showcase Cup last fall, averaging 12.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 2.2 APG and 1.1 SPG on .394/.383/.923 shooting.

The Kings have one of the more unique roster situations right now because they only have 12 players on guaranteed contracts, have reportedly reached agreements with four others — Kent Bazemore, Quinn Cook, KZ Okpala and Jeriah Horne — that have yet to become official, plus three players with relatively small partial guarantees in Matthew Dellavedova, Chima Moneke and Sam Merrill.

It appears as though they’ll have a true training camp competition to determine the last few spots on the standard roster, with both two-way spots currently filled by Keon Ellis and Neemias Queta.

Contract Details: Steward, Kleber, Pickett, Vaudrin

September 9th, 2022 at 2:30pm CST by Luke Adams

DJ Steward‘s new deal with the Kings is a one-year, minimum-salary contract, but it doesn’t include Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has learned. It’s a standard contract that features a small partial guarantee worth $50K.

If Steward is eventually waived, he would still be eligible to play for the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, since his guarantee doesn’t exceed $50K. So the most tangible difference between Steward’s deal and an Exhibit 10 contract is that Sacramento won’t have the option of converting it into a two-way contract. The former Duke guard isn’t ineligible to sign a two-way deal with the Kings, but he would have to pass through waivers first.

Here are a few more contract details from around the NBA:

Maxi Kleber‘s new three-year extension with the Mavericks is fairly straightforward — it features $11,000,000 annual base salaries in each of the three seasons and doesn’t include any bonuses or options years. Kleber’s extension will begin in 2023/24.
The contracts signed with the Cavaliers by Jamorko Pickett and Chandler Vaudrin are Exhibit 10 deals, Hoops Rumors has learned. Both of Cleveland’s two-way slots are currently full, so Pickett and Vaudrin could end up becoming affiliate players for the Cleveland Charge, the Cavs’ G League team.
In case you missed it, we’re tracking each team’s players with partially guaranteed and non-guaranteed contracts, including Exhibit 10 deals, right here.

DJ Steward Signs With Kings

September 8th, 2022 at 6:41pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Kings have brought back free agent guard DJ Steward, signing him to a new contract, per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.

Last year, Steward also joined Sacramento on a training camp deal, but he was waived by the club ahead of opening night. The 6’2″ guard, who went undrafted out of Duke in 2021, ultimately joined Sacramento’s NBAGL affiliate, the Stockton Kings.

Over the course of 30 regular season games (21 starts) with Stockton, he averaged 14.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and 3.4 APG. The 20-year-old posted shooting splits of .463/.331/.884 while in the G League last season.

Sacramento currently has 12 players inked to guaranteed spots on its 15-man standard roster. Three others are signed to non-guaranteed deals, and the team has reportedly reached agreements with KZ Okpala, Quinn Cook, and Kent Bazemore. Shooting guard Keon Ellis and center Neemias Queta occupy the club’s two-way player slots.

According to Anderson, it’s not clear if Steward will join the Kings for training camp or if his new deal is just an Exhibit 10 contract designed to get him a bonus if and when he returns to Stockton. Given all of Sacramento’s other reported signings, the latter scenario seems more likely.