Contract Details: Poeltl, Strus, Love, Robinson, Walsh, R. Lopez
Jakob Poeltl‘s four-year contract with the Raptors has a flat base value of $19.5MM per year, for a total of $78MM, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. There are $500K in annual incentives currently considered unlikely to be earned — if Poeltl maxes out those bonuses, it’ll be worth $80MM. As previously reported, the fourth year is a player option.
Murphy adds that Jalen McDaniels‘ two-year deal is, as expected, worth the full amount of the bi-annual exception and is fully guaranteed, with no options on the second year.
Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts that Hoops Rumors can confirm:
- Max Strus‘ four-year contract with the Cavaliers, which has a total value of $62.3MM, has a first-year salary of $14,487,684. That means the trade exception created by the Heat in the sign-and-trade deal is worth $7,243,842, half of Strus’ salary, due to base year compensation rules.
- Kevin Love‘s two-year deal with the Heat is worth the full Non-Bird amount — $3.84MM in year one and $4.03MM in year two (with a player option). That represents 120% of his minimum salary.
- Orlando Robinson‘s two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Heat is only partially guaranteed for $75K in 2023/24. That guarantee will increase to $425K if he remains under contract through the start of the regular season and to $850K if he’s not waived on or before December 1. Because Robinson’s current guarantee is only $75K, he’d be eligible for a two-way deal if he’s waived before the regular season.
- Jordan Walsh‘s four-year deal with the Celtics is worth the minimum in all four seasons. It’s fully guaranteed in the first two years, with a $200K partial guarantee in year three.
- Robin Lopez‘s minimum-salary contract with the Bucks is for one year.
- We’re continuing to update our free agent tracker and our list of draft pick signings with contract details as we learn them.
Contract Details For Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez
The three-year contract Khris Middleton signed with the Bucks only has a base value of about $93MM, well below the reported figure of $102MM, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
As Marks explains, the deal features approximately $9MM in total incentives — $2MM are currently considered likely to be earned, while the other $7MM are unlikely (meaning Middleton and/or the Bucks didn’t achieve the criteria last season). For now, the forward’s annual cap hits, which take into account his base salaries and likely incentives, will be $29.3MM, $31.7MM, and $34MM.
Meanwhile, Brook Lopez‘s two-year, $48MM contract with the Bucks has a declining structure, according to Marks. The veteran center will earn $25MM in 2023/24 and $23MM in ’24/25.
Bucks Officially Sign Middleton, Lopez, Beasley
The Bucks have officially completed three of their reported free agent signings, having re-signed forward Khris Middleton and center Brook Lopez while also adding swingman Malik Beasley, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
Middleton reached a deal with the Bucks during the first couple hours of free agency last Friday evening, reportedly agreeing to terms on a three-year contract that will pay him $102MM.
Middleton turned down a $40.4MM player option in order to secure a more significant overall financial commitment, though he’ll accept a lower salary in 2023/24. That reduction should help the Bucks’ luxury tax situation in the short term.
Lopez, who drew significant free agent interest from the Rockets, ultimately rebuffed Houston’s advances in order to return to Milwaukee on a two-year deal worth a reported $48MM. He and the Bucks reached that agreement on Saturday.
The veteran center and former All-Star had one of his best NBA seasons in 2022/23, bumping his scoring average to 15.9 PPG (his best mark since his Brooklyn days) and finishing as the runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
As for Beasley, he’s joining the Bucks on a one-year, minimum-salary contract after finishing last season with the Lakers. The veteran wing, who agreed on Monday to sign with Milwaukee is a career 37.8% three-point shooter on 5.8 attempts per game, so he’ll help spread the floor for his new team in 2023/24.
The Bucks are still on track to formally complete deals with Jae Crowder, Robin Lopez, and A.J. Green as well.
Scotto’s Latest: Beasley, Bucks, Plumlee, Spurs, McDaniels, McLemore
Before he agreed to join the Bucks on a minimum-salary deal, free agent swingman Malik Beasley received interest from several teams, including the Mavericks, writes Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. According to Scotto, Dallas considered the possibility of acquiring Beasley from the Lakers via sign-and-trade, but it didn’t work out.
New Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin was a factor in getting Beasley to Milwaukee, having spoken to the veteran wing during the team’s recruiting pitch, sources tell Scotto.
The Bucks currently have 12 players pencil in for standard contracts in 2023/24. Scotto hears that Thanasis Antetokounmpo and No. 36 pick Andre Jackson are candidates to end up on the 15-man roster. The team also needs to decide what type of contract No. 58 pick Chris Livingston will sign, Scotto notes. Currently, Lindell Wigginton and Omari Moore are on two-way contracts with Milwaukee, leaving one open two-way slot.
Here’s more from Scotto:
- Veteran center Mason Plumlee drew interest in free agency from a number of playoff teams, including the Warriors and Hawks, before deciding to remain with the Clippers, league sources tell Scotto.
- The Spurs, having already agreed to get involved in deals that will land them Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, and Reggie Bullock, remain open to taking on unwanted contracts in order to add more draft assets, reports Scotto.
- Before signing forward Jalen McDaniels as a free agent, the Raptors tried to trade for him multiple times, including at the 2023 deadline, according to Scotto, who says Toronto has been closely monitoring McDaniels since he was at San Diego State.
- Veteran guard Ben McLemore, who was out of the NBA last season, will work out for multiple NBA teams during the Las Vegas Summer League, per Scotto. McLemore played in China last season after averaging 10.2 PPG in 64 games for Portland in 2021/22.
- In case you missed it, we also rounded up several Knicks-related rumors from Scotto.
A.J. Green Re-Signs With Bucks On Standard Deal
July 7: Green’s standard deal is official, per NBA.com’s official transactions log.
July 6: A.J. Green will remain with the Bucks on a multi-year contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Only the first year of the deal is fully guaranteed, Charania adds. It’s a three-year deal, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
The 23-year-old shooting guard will receive his first standard NBA contract after playing on a two-way deal last season. He signed with Milwaukee last July after going undrafted out of Northern Iowa.
Green appeared in 35 games for the Bucks during his first NBA season, averaging 4.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 9.9 minutes per night. He underwent surgery for a nasal fracture in October that kept him out of action for close to a month.
Green is the fourth Bucks free agent to agree to re-signed with the team, joining Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Jae Crowder. The team has also reached deals with Malik Beasley and Robin Lopez.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Underwent Clean-Up Procedure On Knee
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo underwent a clean-up procedure on his knee two weeks ago, casting doubt on his availability for Greece in this year’s World Cup, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
A report out of Greece previously indicated that Antetokounmpo was less than 50/50 to play for Greece this summer due to a leg injury, as BasketNews.com relayed.
It’s unclear whether the procedure reported by Charania was on Antetokounmpo’s left or right knee. He missed some time during the first half of the 2022/23 season due to left knee soreness, but was affected in the second half by soreness in his right knee.
Either way, given that Giannis still hasn’t been entirely ruled out for the World Cup, which begins in late August, it sounds like there’s no concern at this point that his recovery process will extend into the start of the NBA regular season in October.
Antetokounmpo is entering the third season of his five-year, super-max contract with the Bucks and has the ability to opt out of that contract in 2025. He’ll become extension-eligible before the 2023/24 season begins.
Malik Beasley To Sign One-Year Contract With Bucks
Free agent guard Malik Beasley is signing a one-year contract with the Bucks, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
A seven-year veteran, Beasley is signing for the veteran’s minimum of $2,709,849, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Milwaukee will carry a cap hit of $2,019,706.
Beasley entered the free agent market when the Lakers declined their $16.5MM option on his contract for next season. Beasley had multiple suitors who were seeking a low-cost perimeter option and the Bucks’ interest in him had previously been reported.
A long-range shooting specialist who holds a career mark of 37.8% from deep, Beasley shot just 35.7% last season, including 35.3% with the Lakers. He was acquired from Utah at the trade deadline in the deal involving Russell Westbrook.
Overall, the 26-year-old appeared in 81 games last season, including 27 starts (25.8 MPG). He was a non-factor in the postseason, appearing in 11 games while shooting 26.9% from long distance in 8.3 MPG.
If he regains his previous form, Beasley could play major minutes as the backup shooting guard behind Grayson Allen. Beasley was a 2016 first-round pick for Denver and spent three-and-a-half seasons there before a two-and-a-half-year stint with Minnesota. He’s averaged 10.8 points in 21.9 minutes through 417 regular-season games.
Bucks Sign Robin Lopez
JULY 6: Lopez is back with the Bucks. His deal with Milwaukee is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
JULY 3: The Bucks are reuniting the Lopez twins, having agreed to sign free agent center Robin Lopez, according to Shams Charania of the Athletic (Twitter link).
Milwaukee reached a two-year, $48MM deal with Brook Lopez on Saturday. While Charania didn’t specify the terms of Robin’s agreement, Brook’s brother will likely earn the minimum salary, given the team’s cap constraints and the fact that he’s coming off a minimum deal.
A 15-year NBA veteran, Robin spent the 2022/23 campaign with the Cavaliers, playing limited minutes in a frontcourt led by Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. He appeared in just 37 games, averaging 3.0 points and 1.4 rebounds in 8.1 minutes per night. Those numbers were all career lows.
Although Robin’s on-court role in Milwaukee may not be any more expansive than what it was in Cleveland, he’ll provide the Bucks with another veteran leader in the locker room and an experienced option up front if called upon.
It will be Robin’s second go-round with the Bucks. He and Brook also played together for the team in 2019/20.
Having also agreed to bring back free agents Khris Middleton and Jae Crowder, Milwaukee still has at least two or three roster spots to fill, with limited financial resources to do so. The full $5MM taxpayer mid-level exception won’t be available to the team, barring a cost-cutting move.
Central Notes: Bucks, Pistons, Parker, Pacers’ Coaches
The Bucks kept their core intact by re-signing Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, but it will be challenging to fill out the roster while remaining under the second tax apron, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. The two new contracts bring Milwaukee’s projected spending for next season to nearly $170MM for eight players, leaving six more to be added without reaching the $182.79MM apron. Nehm points out that they can’t avoid the apron if they use their full $5MM taxpayer mid-level exception and will have to complete the roster mostly through veteran’s minimum contracts and re-signing their own players through Bird rights.
A new one-year deal with Jae Crowder will help, Nehm adds. The Bucks parted with five second-round picks to acquire the veteran forward in February, but he wasn’t a lock to return because he didn’t have the impact on defense that the team was expecting. Thanasis Antetokounmpo will likely be back, according to Nehm, but the Bucks are expected to wait until later this summer to officially sign him to retain their financial flexibility.
Nehm notes that finding a backup point guard will be a priority after losing Jevon Carter to the Bulls. He names Kendrick Nunn as a potential low-cost option, along with Cory Joseph, who is on the market after spending the last two seasons in Detroit.
Nehm suggests that Milwaukee could look for bargains with its other open roster spots. He mentions Kings shooting guard Terence Davis and Raptors point guard Dalano Banton as possibilities, as well the Lakers’ Malik Beasley and Lonnie Walker if they’re willing to accept minimum offers for one year to join a title contender.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Instead of signing free agents, the Pistons used their cap room to trade for two veterans, which sets them up for big moves at the deadline and next summer, observes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. Joe Harris at $19.9MM and Monte Morris at $9.8MM use up virtually all of Detroit’s $30MM in cap space, but they both have expiring contracts that could be valuable at the deadline in February. Sankofa notes that the same is true for Alec Burks‘ $10.5MM deal, while Bojan Bogdanovic is virtually expiring because his 2024/25 contract only carries a $2MM guarantee.
- A family matter will prevent Jabari Parker from joining the Bucks for the Las Vegas Summer League, Nehm tweets. The former No. 2 overall pick is hoping for another NBA opportunity after sitting out all of last season.
- Pacers assistant Ronald Nored will join Quin Snyder‘s staff with the Hawks, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Indiana will move Jenny Boucek to the front of the bench and make Jim Boylen an assistant after he served as a consultant last season.
Checking In On NBA’s Top Remaining Free Agents
Technically, most of this year’s top free agents remain unsigned. Until the moratorium in place at the start of the 2023/24 league year lifts at 11:01 am Central time on July 6, most of them are ineligible to sign their new contracts.
However, within the last 40-ish hours, 36 of the players from our list of 2023’s top 50 free agents have taken themselves off the market by reaching contract agreements with teams around the league.
[RELATED: 2023 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
While those are just tentative agreements and could still fall apart, that usually doesn’t happen more than once or twice in a given offseason, so it’s safe to pencil those deals in for the time being and assume those free agents are off the board.
So who does that leave? As of early Sunday morning, here are the top free agents from our top-50 list who have yet to agree to new deals:
- Miles Bridges, F, Hornets (RFA)
- P.J. Washington, F, Hornets (RFA)
- Grant Williams, F, Celtics (RFA)
- Christian Wood, F/C
- Kelly Oubre, F
- Eric Gordon, G
- Malik Beasley, G/F
- Matisse Thybulle, F, Trail Blazers (RFA)
- Lonnie Walker, G/F
- Mason Plumlee, C
- Ayo Dosunmu, G, Bulls (RFA)
- Torrey Craig, F
- Hamidou Diallo, G
- Paul Reed, F/C, Sixers (RFA)
The Hornets are very much in the mix for all three of the remaining free agents in our top 20. As long as their qualifying offers to Washington and Bridges remain on the table, they control those players’ free agencies, with the ability to match any offer sheet they sign.
A report on Saturday indicated Charlotte is also mulling the possibility of an offer sheet for Williams. If the Hornets went ahead with a pursuit of the Celtics forward, it would presumably mean moving on from at least one of Bridges or Washington. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Washington has received interest from a few other teams and may be looking at a deal in the range of the one Rui Hachimura got from the Lakers (three years, $51MM).
Since being restricted can slow down the free agency process for players who don’t quickly negotiate a deal with their own teams, it’s possible there won’t be resolution right away for Thybulle, Dosunmu, and Reed. However, the rest of the players in this group are unrestricted and could move faster.
Scotto also has an update on Beasley, reporting today that the veteran shooter has drawn interest from the Sixers, Suns, Raptors, Mavericks, Bucks, and Warriors since reaching free agency. Some of those teams are limited to a minimum-salary offer.
The Kings and Pistons are among the teams that have displayed interest in Craig, according to Scotto, who notes that Detroit’s new head coach Monty Williams was a fan of the wing in Phoenix.
The following free agents were noted in the honorable mention section of our top-50 list and aren’t yet spoken for:
- Mohamed Bamba, C
- Dalano Banton, G
- Terence Davis, G
- Javonte Green, G
- Derrick Jones, F
- Cory Joseph, G
- Romeo Langford, G/F
- Jaylen Nowell, G
- Kendrick Nunn, G
- Dario Saric, F
Here are our full lists of free agents by position/type and by team.