Pacers Sign Malcolm Brogdon To Two-Year Extension
5:53pm: The Pacers and Brogdon have officially completed their new deal, according to the transactions log at NBA.com.
2:14pm: The Pacers and guard Malcolm Brogdon have agreed to a two-year, $45MM extension, agent Austin Brown of CAA Sports tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Brogdon’s current contract covers the next two years, so his new deal will begin in 2023/24 and will lock him up through 2025. The 28-year-old is earning $21.7MM in ’21/22 and $22.6MM in ’22/23, for a total of $44.3MM over the next two seasons, so his new two-year extension figures to look pretty similar to the remainder of his current deal.
Brogdon, who will turn 29 in December, has spent the last two seasons in Indiana and enjoyed perhaps the best statistical season of his career in 2020/21. He averaged a career-high 21.2 PPG to go along with 5.9 APG and 5.3 RPG in 56 games (34.5 MPG), posting a shooting line of .453/.388/.864.
There had been some whispers throughout the offseason that Brogdon could be a trade candidate, and his name – as well as Caris LeVert‘s – surfaced in rumors related to the Ben Simmons trade talks between the Sixers and Pacers. However, subsequent reports suggested that Philadelphia wasn’t that enamored by the idea of a package centered around Brogdon and/or LeVert.
Now that he’s signing an extension, Brogdon won’t be a trade option for the Sixers or any other team this season. As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Brogdon’s new deal exceeds the extend-and-trade limits in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, meaning he won’t become trade-eligible for six months. This season’s trade deadline is on February 10.
As we noted this morning, if Brogdon hadn’t finalized an extension today, he wouldn’t have been eligible to sign one until the 2022 offseason, since he still has multiple years left on his current deal.
Bucks Sign Grayson Allen To Two-Year Extension
5:52pm: The Bucks have officially signed Allen to his extension, per NBA.com’s transactions log. The deal’s overall base value is lower than $20MM, according to Jim Owczarksi of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who reports that it can be worth up to $19.5MM if certain team and player incentives are met.
4:16pm: The Bucks have reached an agreement on a two-year, $20MM rookie scale contract extension with wing Grayson Allen, agent Mitch Nathan of CAA tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Allen, who is entering his fourth NBA season, had the best year of his career for the Grizzlies in 2020/21, starting 38 of 50 games and averaging 10.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.2 APG. The former Duke star has knocked down 39.5% of his 3-point attempts over the last two years while steadily increasing his volume.
The Bucks acquired Allen from Memphis over the summer in exchange for Sam Merrill and a pair of future second-round picks. He’ll play a rotation role on the wing in Milwaukee this season and would have been eligible for restricted free agency in 2022 if he hadn’t worked out a deal with the team today.
Allen’s two-year contract will give the Bucks some insurance in the event that they can’t complete a new contract with Donte DiVincenzo, who is also on track for potential restricted free agency next summer if he doesn’t sign an extension today. Allen’s new deal will pay him approximately the equivalent of the full mid-level exception.
Allen will earn just over $4MM this season before his extension goes into effect in 2022/23.
Suns Sign Landry Shamet To Four-Year Extension
5:49pm: Shamet’s extension is official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. The deal will include a team option in year four, says Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
4:20pm: The Suns are signing guard Landry Shamet to a four-year, $43MM rookie scale contract extension, agent George Landberg tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The deal is almost identical to what a four-year deal using the full mid-level exception is projected to look like in 2022/23.
Shamet has yet to appear in a regular season game for Phoenix, having been acquired from Brooklyn in an offseason deal. However, as Wojnarowski notes (via Twitter), head coach Monty Williams pushed for that trade and is planning on having Shamet play a big role for the Suns.
The 24-year-old has bounced around the NBA since entering the league as the 26th overall pick, having already spent time with the Sixers, Clippers, and Nets. However, he has been considered a positive asset each time he has been traded — the Suns gave up Jevon Carter and the No. 29 pick for him this summer.
Shamet has also been a reliable outside shooter for each one of his teams so far, knocking down 39.7% of his career three-point attempts in 193 games. In 2020/21, he averaged 9.3 PPG in 61 games (23.0 MPG) for the Nets.
Even though the Suns were said to be high on Shamet, it’s still a little surprising that the team completed rookie scale extensions with two players this offseason and former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton wasn’t one of them. Mikal Bridges also received a four-year deal from Phoenix, but extension negotiations with Ayton stalled and ended.
Outside of Ayton, the Suns now have their entire core locked up for multiple seasons. Devin Booker is under contract for the next three years, while Chris Paul‘s contract covers four seasons.
Lakers Claim Avery Bradley Off Waivers
The Lakers have reunited with another old friend, having claimed guard Avery Bradley off waivers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bradley was released by the Warriors on Saturday.
Bradley was part of the Lakers’ championship team in 2019/20, averaging 8.6 PPG and 2.3 RPG on .444/.364/.833 shooting in 49 games (24.2 MPG) for the club. He signed with the Heat last offseason, then was traded to Houston at the March trade deadline. The Rockets turned down Bradley’s team option for 2021/22 and he subsequently joined the Warriors for training camp.
Bradley failed to earn the 15th spot on Golden State’s regular season roster, but will become the latest veteran to rejoin the Lakers after spending time away from the team. Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington, and Kent Bazemore are among the others who fit that bill. Howard and Rondo, like Bradley, were members of the 2020 championship team.
The Lakers, who signed Jay Huff to a two-way contract earlier today, now have a full 17-man roster for the regular season. However, Bradley’s deal is non-guaranteed and Austin Reaves only has a small partial guarantee, so the team has the flexibility to make some changes in the coming days, weeks, or months, if necessary.
Hornets Release Wesley Iwundu
2:44pm: The Hornets have officially waived Iwundu, according to a press release from the team.
1:11pm: The Hornets will finalize their regular season roster by waiving swingman Wesley Iwundu, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Iwundu, who will turn 27 in December, has been in the NBA for four seasons after being selected 33rd overall in the 2017 draft by the Magic. He spent his first three years in Orlando, then played for the Mavericks and Pelicans in 2020/21. In 223 total games (16.8 MPG), he has averaged 4.3 PPG and 2.4 RPG on .407/.286/.799 shooting.
The Pelicans sent Iwundu to Charlotte this summer as part of the Devonte’ Graham sign-and-trade. Iwundu was a late addition to the deal for salary purposes, as his inclusion allowed New Orleans to create a significant trade exception. With the Hornets carrying 16 players on guaranteed contracts this fall, Iwundu always seemed to be the likeliest victim of the club’s roster crunch.
Charlotte will take on a $1,824,003 cap hit for Iwundu, assuming he goes unclaimed on waivers on Wednesday. The Hornets now have 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals.
No Contract Extension For Suns, Deandre Ayton
The Suns and center Deandre Ayton have ended their contract extension negotiations, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
As Wojnarowski explains, Ayton expected a maximum-salary deal and team owner Robert Sarver has remained unwilling to offer one, so the two sides won’t reach an agreement by today’s rookie scale extension deadline. While Phoenix was able to work out an extension with Mikal Bridges, the team’s former No. 1 pick is now on track to become a restricted free agent in 2022.
Wojnarowski first reported nearly two weeks ago that discussions between the two sides had reached an impasse due to their difference in opinion on Ayton’s value. The 23-year-old’s representatives felt their client deserved a commitment like the ones Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received from their respective teams this offseason, while the Suns’ ownership group felt Ayton wasn’t at the level of those young stars.
Ayton’s 14.4 PPG in 2020/21 was the lowest mark of his career, but he averaged double-digit rebounds (10.5 RPG) for a third straight season, made a career-best 62.6% of his shots from the field, improved as a defender, and played a key role in the Suns’ NBA Finals run. His modest scoring numbers were primarily a result of his willingness to accept a reduced role on offense following the arrival of Chris Paul to Phoenix. Ayton had averaged 18.2 PPG in ’19/20.
Since Ayton will be a restricted free agent in a year, Phoenix won’t be at any risk of losing him next summer. However, if these unsuccessful negotiations leave a bad taste in his mouth, Ayton could consider alternative options in free agency besides just reentering long-term contract talks with the Suns.
Accepting his qualifying offer would be one option for Ayton, though that’s not a path many high-level RFAs seriously consider. Signing the qualifying offer would be the equivalent of accepting a one-year contract and would put Ayton on track for unrestricted free agency in 2023. While it’s an unlikely scenario, it’s worth noting that Ayton’s qualifying offer will be worth $16.4MM, which I believe makes it the largest QO in NBA history to date.
Ayton would also have the option of going out and seeking an offer sheet from another team. The Suns would have the ability to match any offer sheet Ayton signs, but he could negotiate unfriendly terms, including perhaps an early opt-out and a 15% trade kicker.
Of course, it’s possible that when the Suns and Ayton return to the negotiating table next offseason, things go more smoothly and the two sides are able to work something out, like the Hawks did with John Collins this summer. For now though, it looks like we can safely pencil in Ayton as one of the top free agents in next year’s class.
Grizzlies Sign Jaren Jackson Jr. To Four-Year Extension
1:55pm: Jackson’s extension is now official, per NBA.com’s transactions log. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the deal has a first-year salary of $28.9MM and declines annually from there. Marks also confirms that it’ll include prior injury exclusion (Exhibit 3) language related to Jackson’s left knee.
12:41pm: There will be injury protections in the deal, sources tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic. According to Vardon, if Jackson gets hurt again, the Grizzlies would have the ability to save some or all of the money they’d owe him.
We’ll have to wait for the specific details, but typically, that sort of contract language applies to a reoccurrence of a similar prior injury. For instance, the agreement might make Jackson’s future salaries non-guaranteed if he has more health issues related to his left knee.
Joel Embiid‘s rookie scale extension with Philadelphia had language along those lines. But again, we’ll have to wait for more specifics on Jackson’s deal.
10:40am: The Grizzlies and power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. have reached an agreement on a rookie scale extension, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Agent Austin Brown of CAA Basketball tells Wojnarowski that Jackson is signing a four-year, $105MM extension with the team. It will go into effect in 2022/23.
Jackson, 22, was the fourth overall pick in the 2018 draft and started 113 of the 115 games he played for Memphis in his first two NBA seasons. In 2019/20, he averaged 17.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.6 BPG on .469/.394/.747 shooting in 57 contests (28.5 MPG).
However, Jackson was sidelined for the majority of the ’20/21 campaign while recovering from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He returned late in the season for just 11 games and didn’t quite look like he was back up to full speed, averaging 14.4 PPG on a modest .424/.283/.833 shooting line.
Despite coming off a season nearly entirely lost to injury, Jackson remains a key part of the Grizzlies’ long-term plans, along with guard Ja Morant, who will be up for a rookie scale extension of his own in 2022.
As Wojnarowski writes, Memphis views Jackson as one of the more versatile and dynamic young bigs in the NBA. The team chose to lock him up now rather than risk paying an even higher price in restricted free agency a year from now.
Wojnarowski’s report doesn’t indicate that Jackson’s $105MM deal is fully guaranteed, so we’ll have to wait to see if that number is buoyed by incentives or whether the agreement includes some non-guaranteed money or injury language. Still, it’s a nice payday for a player who has only appeared in 126 total regular season games.
Jackson’s new deal puts this year’s crop of rookie scale extensions over the $1 billion mark, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That figure includes massive, maximum-salary extensions for Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Michael Porter Jr., along with contracts ranging from $50-90MM for Mikal Bridges, Robert Williams, and Wendell Carter Jr.
The deadline to complete rookie scale extensions is at 5:00pm CT today, so more deals could still get done in the coming hours. We listed all the eligible players in an earlier story.
Suns Sign Mikal Bridges To Four-Year Extension
OCTOBER 18: The Suns have officially completed Bridges’ extension, the team announced today in a press release.
OCTOBER 17: The Suns have reached a deal to sign swingman Mikal Bridges to a four-year, $90MM rookie contract extension, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who says the deal will be fully guaranteed. Bridges’ agents at Excel Sports Management, Sam Goldfeder and Jordan Gertler, informed Woj of the news.
Bridges, the tenth overall pick in the 2018 draft out of Villanova (where he won NCAA titles in 2016 and 2018), proved to be a crucial two-way contributor on a Phoenix club that broke through for its first NBA Finals appearance in 28 years during the 2020/21 season.
The 6’6″ small forward enjoyed a career year in 2020/21, averaging 13.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.1 SPG and 0.9 BPG for Phoenix, while appearing in all 72 games during the truncated season. Bridges posted an excellent shooting line of .543/.425/.840 and emerged as one of the league’s best young defenders.
Retaining Bridges, who still has All-Star upside, on a deal that will pay him $22.5MM annually through the 2025/26 season is a massive victory for Suns general manager James Jones.
Bridges’ teammate Deandre Ayton, Phoenix’s starting center selected in the same draft class out of Arizona, has yet to reach terms on his own rookie contract extension agreement with the club. The deadline for teams to reach rookie contract extensions is tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT.
Woj notes that the Suns are still having conversations about a possible extension for Ayton ahead of tomorrow’s deadline, in addition to newly-added reserve shooting guard Landry Shamet, the No. 26 selection in 2018 out of Wichita State.
“He is the player who buys into a culture as well as sets a culture,” Goldfelder said of his client.
“Mikal has worked tirelessly to bring winning basketball back to the Phoenix Suns,” Gertler said. “This is the culmination of his hard work.”
Lakers Sign Jay Huff To Two-Way Contract
The Lakers have signed rookie free agent big man Jay Huff to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
A 7’1″ forward/center, Huff spent his college career at Virginia and was a full-time starter for the first time as a senior in 2020/21. He averaged 13.0 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 2.6 BPG with a stellar .585/.387/.837 shooting line in 25 games (27.0 MPG). Huff, who won a national title in 2019, made the All-ACC Second Team and the ACC All-Defensive Team in 2021.
After going undrafted in July, Huff caught on with the Wizards, signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the team in August and playing for Washington in both the Las Vegas Summer League and the preseason. He was cut last week, with the Wizards probably hoping he’d play for the Capital City Go-Go, their G League affiliate. Instead, Huff has caught on with another NBA team.
Huff is the fourth player the Lakers have signed to a two-way contract already since the new league year began in August. The team initially inked Austin Reaves and Joel Ayayi to two-way deals, but later promoted Reaves to the standard roster and released Ayayi. Sekou Doumbouya took Reaves’ two-way slot and now Huff has replaced Ayayi.
The Lakers still have an open spot on their 15-man roster.
Spurs Waive Al-Farouq Aminu
12:30pm: The Spurs have officially waived Aminu, per a team press release.
12:12pm: The Spurs are waiving veteran forward Al-Farouq Aminu, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
San Antonio had been carrying 16 players on guaranteed contracts, so cutting Aminu will ensure the team gets down to 15 for the start of the regular season. The Spurs will be on the hook for Aminu’s $10,183,800 salary, which will remain on their cap for the 2021/22 season.
Aminu, who signed a three-year, $29MM+ deal with Orlando in 2019, battled injuries throughout the contract, appearing in just 35 games for the Magic before he was sent to Chicago in the Nikola Vucevic trade at the 2021 deadline. He played in six games for the Bulls down the stretch, then was flipped to the Spurs in the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade this offseason.
A strong, versatile defender when healthy, Aminu was a starter in New Orleans and Portland earlier in his career, but was only traded to the Spurs for salary-matching purposes and wasn’t considered a keeper for the club. There was a little uncertainty about whether he’d be a victim of the preseason roster crunch, since his $10MM expiring deal could’ve been useful in a midseason trade, but it seems the Spurs decided it made more sense to release him than one of their younger players.
San Antonio also waived Luka Samanic last week in order to get down to 15 players on standard contracts for the regular season. The team does have an open two-way contract slot.