Deadline Looms For Teams To Stretch 2024/25 Salaries
Thursday, August 29 is the last day that an NBA team will be able to waive a player who has a fully or partially guaranteed salary for 2024/25 and stretch that player’s ’24/25 salary across multiple seasons.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Stretch Provision]
The stretch provision deadline has historically been August 31, and while that’s technically still the case, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement tweaked the wording of the rule. As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), in order to apply the stretch provision to a player’s current-season salary, a team must now ensure the player clears waivers on or before August 31 rather than simply requesting waivers on him by August 31.
The adjusted wording is similar to the CBA language related to the league-wide salary guarantee date in January. In that case, a team must place a player on waivers on or before January 7 in order to have him clear waivers ahead of the league-wide Jan. 10 guarantee date. In the case of the stretch provision rule, a player whose salary is being stretched now must be waived by August 29 at 4:00 pm Central time to ensure he has cleared waivers prior to September 1.
A player who clears waivers between September 1 and the end of the 2024/25 season can still have his cap hit(s) for 2025/26 and future seasons stretched across multiple years, assuming he’s owed guaranteed money beyond this season. But his ’24/25 cap charge would remain unchanged in that scenario, unless he reaches a buyout agreement with his team.
The stretch provision allows teams to gain some short-term relief at the cost of reduced long-term flexibility. It’s used most frequently by teams in the luxury tax who want to lower their projected tax bill (or duck out of tax territory entirely) or by teams who want to create a little extra cap room to accommodate a specific roster move.
Teams haven’t employed the stretch provision all that frequently in recent years, but three players waived this week will have their guaranteed money stretched across multiple seasons. The Suns are stretching the $21.75MM owed to Nassir Little for the next three years, as well as the $2,120,693 owed to E.J. Liddell for 2024/25, while the Grizzlies are stretching Mamadi Diakite‘s $1,392,150 partial guarantee for ’24/25.
Since the stretch provision allows a team to spread the player’s remaining salary across twice the remaining years on his contract, plus one additional year, the new cap hits for those players will be as follows:
- Little (Suns): $3,107,143 for seven seasons (through 2030/31)
- Liddell (Suns): $706,898 for three seasons (through 2026/27)
- Diakite (Grizzlies): $464,050 for three seasons (through 2026/27)
The Suns’ moves reduce their projected tax bill, while the Grizzlies’ move creates a little additional breathing room below the tax line.
We likely won’t see a flurry of cuts today and tomorrow in order to take advantage of this rule, but the deadline is still worth keeping in mind for the possibilities it will take off the table. Any player on a guaranteed expiring contract who is waived after August 29 will have his remaining salary count entirely against his team’s ’24/25 books.
Warriors’ Podziemski Talks Trade Rumors, 2024/25 Goals, More
Brandin Podziemski‘s name popped up in trade rumors throughout the summer amid speculation that he could be included in a package for a star like Paul George or Lauri Markkanen. However, the Warriors guard received separate assurances from general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and owner Joe Lacob that the team had no plans to trade him, as he tells Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
According to Podziemski, Dunleavy delivered his message ahead of draft night.
“A lot of these other teams are calling about you,” Podziemski said Dunleavy told him. “They want you, but you’re not going anywhere. You’re ours.”
Slater hears from team sources that the Warriors received several inquiries from teams willing to make “medium- to high-value” draft pick offers for Podziemski, who made the All-Rookie first team in 2023/24. As for the Markkanen negotiations between Golden State and Utah, they reportedly never got too serious, but Podziemski was considered a top target for the Jazz if they had pursued a deal.
The 21-year-old heard from Lacob while those Markkanen rumors were swirling, as Slater relays.
[RELATED: Joe Lacob Reluctant To Trade Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski]
“He told me, ‘You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re a priority here,'” Podziemski said. “I appreciate that, being a rookie and going into my second year, hearing that from such a prestigious organization. It feels good. I’m wanted somewhere. So, I appreciate them. They could keep me in the dark until a trade is done. But Mike and Joe were transparent from the draft to the Paul George situation to the Markkanen situation.”
Here are a few more highlights from Podziemski’s conversation with The Athletic:
- Podziemski knows some fans may question why the Warriors’ front office has been so reluctant to move him if he could help them acquire an established star, but he said he won’t feel increased pressure next season to perform at a high level and justify the team’s belief in him. “I won’t go into games thinking about it,” Podziemski told Slater. “I just know what I’ve done all offseason. I know how much better of a player I’m going to be. Obviously, I have expectations for myself to perform. This is my job. But I don’t think there’s any nervousness to exceed expectations. I’m just going to be me.”
- According to Podziemski, the Warriors have told him they’d like to see him shoot more three-pointers next season after he launched 3.2 attempts per night as a rookie. “They want me to take anywhere (from) eight to 10 per game. That’s what they told me,” he said. “All different types: off dribble handoffs, off ball screens, catch-and-shoot.”
- As Slater points out, among qualified NBA players last season, only 10 averaged more than eight three-point tries per game, and just three (including Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson) reached nine per game. However, Podziemski is confident he can significantly increase his volume from beyond the arc. “The reason they said that is because I’d be watching film last season after every game, and it’s always on there: Missed three-point opportunity that I didn’t take,” he explained. “There were a good two to four each game that I passed up. If you look at that, it’s a good five to seven per game I could’ve got up. Now with Klay being gone, Chris (Paul) being gone, someone is going to have to handle the ball a little bit more. I think I’m more than capable of doing that. Given that, I think it leads me to have more threes.”
- Discussing his involvement in Team USA’s pre-Olympic workouts as a member of the Select Team, Podziemski said he appreciated the opportunity to guard players like Curry and Jrue Holiday in scrimmages, since it helped prepare him for the types of defensive assignments he wants to take on next season: “With Steph out there, you’re not going to have him guard the best guard. So, it’s on me taking that challenge of what Klay used to do. It’s something I want and have that not be the reason (head coach) Steve (Kerr) doesn’t play me, because I can’t guard their best guard.”
Clippers Notes: Lue, Harden, Van Gundy, Kawhi, Training Camp
Although he spent much of the summer focused on helping the U.S. national team win gold at the Paris Olympics as one of Steve Kerr‘s assistants, Tyronn Lue also found plenty of time to discuss the Clippers with Jeff Van Gundy, another Team USA staffer who will work under Lue in Los Angeles this season, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
According to Youngmisuk, Lue returned from France energized to begin the 2024/25 season and looking forward to the challenge of trying to guide the Clippers back to the postseason after losing a nine-time All-Star in free agency.
“When you lose a guy of Paul George‘s stature, instantly people (think), “Oh, they can’t win’ or ‘They’re not going to be competitive,'” Lue told Youngmisuk. “But that just challenges me even more. OK, people are counting us out or people don’t think we’re going to be good. That right there just gives me an extra dose of (motivation). I can’t wait to prove everybody wrong.”
Lue suggested that having a full offseason and training camp with former MVP James Harden will make a “huge difference” for the Clippers heading into the 2024/25 campaign. The team acquired Harden from the Sixers during the second week of the 2023/24 regular season last fall.
“Having to learn (how to best use him) on the fly was tough,” Lue said. “… What he’s shown us is that we can run a pick-and-roll … scoring the basketball, making plays for each other, making it easy for everybody to play.”
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- Lue said the addition of Van Gundy to his staff will be “huge” for the team, per Youngmisuk. “He’s a basketball film rat,” the Clippers’ head coach said. “He’s calling me, asking me questions, offensively, defensively, all the different things about game 17 (of last season). I don’t remember that s–t. But he’s locked into all that.”
- Lue also expressed confidence that Kawhi Leonard, who missed time at the end of last season and was removed from Team USA’s Olympic roster due to knee inflammation, will be good to go this fall. “I speak to him all the time,” Lue told Youngmisuk. “He’ll be ready for training camp. He’s feeling good and I know he’ll be ready for training camp.”
- The Clippers are returning to Hawaii for training camp this October, the team announced on Tuesday (Twitter link via Law Murray of The Athletic). It will be the fifth time since 2017 that the team has held its fall training camp in the state. This year’s camp will take place at the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawai’i campus and will conclude with an October 5 preseason game against the Warriors in Honolulu.
- As Murray tweets, that matchup with Golden State in Hawaii will kick off a five-game preseason slate for the Clippers. The team will play the Nets in San Diego/Oceanside and the Trail Blazers in Seattle in addition to hosting a pair of games against Dallas and Sacramento at the brand-new Intuit Dome.
- Michael Pina of The Ringer explains why he believes the Clippers can still be a force to be reckoned with in the West despite losing George and former MVP Russell Westbrook, whose exit Pina describes as “addition by subtraction.”
Longest-Tenured NBA Head Coaches
It has been another eventful year on the NBA’s head coaching carousel, with eight teams making coaching changes since the calendar flipped to 2024.
That group includes the Cavaliers, whose previous head coach – J.B. Bickerstaff – ranked sixth on the list of the NBA’s longest-tenured coaches prior to his dismissal this spring. Bickerstaff ultimately found a new job in Detroit, so he’s back on the list below — but he now ranks 30th, since he’s the head coach who was most recently hired.
Improbably, after Bucks coach Adrian Griffin and Suns coach Frank Vogel placed 28th and 29th on this list last year as two of the league’s most recent hires, Milwaukee and Phoenix have moved up to 24th and 27th on this year’s iteration despite each making coaching changes in 2024.
Six new head coaches have been hired since the Bucks named Doc Rivers as Griffin’s replacement in January, while three head coaches were hired this summer after the Suns tabbed Mike Budenholzer to replace Vogel in May.
Here’s the current breakdown of the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches by team:
- Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
- Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
- Steve Kerr, Warriors: May 2014
- Michael Malone, Nuggets: June 2015
- Taylor Jenkins, Grizzlies: June 2019
- Tom Thibodeau, Knicks: July 2020
- Billy Donovan, Bulls: September 2020
- Tyronn Lue, Clippers: October 2020
- Mark Daigneault, Thunder: November 2020
- Chris Finch, Timberwolves: February 2021
- Rick Carlisle, Pacers: June 24, 2021
- Chauncey Billups, Trail Blazers: June 27, 2021
- Jason Kidd, Mavericks: June 28, 2021
- Jamahl Mosley, Magic: July 11, 2021
- Willie Green, Pelicans: July 22, 2021
- Mike Brown, Kings: May 2022
- Will Hardy, Jazz: June 2022
- Joe Mazzulla, Celtics: September 2022
- Note: Mazzulla became the Celtics’ interim head coach in September 2022 and was named the permanent head coach in February 2023.
- Quin Snyder, Hawks: February 2023
- Ime Udoka, Rockets: April 2023
- Nick Nurse, Sixers: June 1, 2023
- Darko Rajakovic, Raptors: June 13, 2023
- Brian Keefe, Wizards: January 25, 2024
- Note: Keefe became the Wizards’ interim head coach in January 2024 and was named the permanent head coach in May 2024.
- Doc Rivers, Bucks: January 26, 2024
- Jordi Fernandez, Nets: April 2024
- Charles Lee, Hornets: May 9, 2024
- Mike Budenholzer, Suns: May 11, 2024
- J.J. Redick, Lakers: June 24, 2024
- Kenny Atkinson, Cavaliers: June 28, 2024
- J.B. Bickerstaff, Pistons: July 2024
There was above-average stability among the top half of the league’s longest-tenured coaches in the past year — Bickerstaff was the only one in the top 15 to be replaced.
Still, this list reflects how difficult it is for an NBA head coach to stick in one place. Only five active coaches have more than four seasons under their belts with their current clubs, while exactly half of the league’s current coaches have been with their teams for no more than two seasons.
Southwest Notes: Green, Tate, Grizzlies
Jalen Green was having a solid season until March, averaging 17.9 points per game while shooting 40.4% from the field. He had made some strides on the defensive end but still hadn’t exploded onto the scene as a former No. 2 overall pick, Joe Wolfond of TheScore.com writes.
That was until March, when Green then averaged 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per night while shooting 46.1% from the field and 37.0% from beyond the arc in his final 23 games of the season. As Wolfond notes, it wasn’t empty production during the late part of the season, as the Rockets went 13-2 in March.
Green hasn’t yet been extended, however, and reports of Houston’s interest in Kevin Durant or other potential superstars down the line make it seem like the team is open to shaking up the core. As Wolfond writes, this season will be instrumental in determining whether the Rockets will or should commit long-term to the duo of Alperen Sengun and Green, as well as what sort of role Green will carry into the future.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- It might be hard for Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate to find minutes in 2024, with Tari Eason returning from injury and serving as the primary forward defender off the bench, Rahat Huq of Forbes writes. Tate might crack the rotation if he’s able to become a more reliable shooter in his age-29 season. However, the Rockets brought him back along with the likes of Jock Landale and Jeff Green and could combine salaries of some of their lower-minutes players (around $28MM) to match contracts in trades.
- By waiving Mamadi Diakite, the Grizzlies are preserving their 15th roster spot for future flexibility, Damichael Cole of Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. The club could use that spot for a depth piece in the event of injuries or could leave it open until later in the season to ensure team salary doesn’t surpass the luxury tax line.
- In case you missed it, Matt Ryan is re-joining the Pelicans on a restructured deal for training camp but it does not contain Exhibit 10 language. The contract is a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary Exhibit 9 deal. That means his deal can’t be converted to a two-way contract. The Pelicans’ standard roster stands at 15 players.
Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Anthony, Sixers, Thomas
The Knicks are facing much higher expectations in 2024/25 than in most recent seasons, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post writes. New York is projected to finish second in the East by most sportsbooks after the team acquired Mikal Bridges via trade this offseason. Their over/under for regular season wins is set at 53.5 by BetMGM and FanDuel despite New York only surpassing 53 wins in a season once since 1997.
On top of adding Bridges, the Knicks are set to be healthier to open next season with Julius Randle back in the fold.
“It’s nice to hear that we’re contenders, but I think we have to go into training camp without having that word be spoken,” star guard Jalen Brunson said. “Obviously, I said I want to get past the second round after getting there two straight years. But we can’t just go into the season and jump right back into the second round. We’ve got to go back and start all over again.”
While the Knicks are in prime position to make it to at least the conference finals, they still have some obstacles to overcome, Bondy writes. For one, they’ll need to be healthier after missing several members of their rotation in the ’23/24 postseason. They’re also not the only Eastern Conference team that improved in the offseason, meaning the playoff competition could be stiffer next spring.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks and NBA legend Carmelo Anthony revealed on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast that he was offered an end-of-bench role by New York in 2022 (YouTube link). “We sat down and had a real conversation. ‘Listen, here’s a spot. You can be on the team tomorrow, but this is the spot,” Anthony said. The 10-time All-Star explained that he always had a goal of returning to New York, but after a handful of successful sixth-man seasons with the Lakers and Trail Blazers, Anthony didn’t want to be relegated to the end of the roster. “The not knowing of when you’re going to play and not play—I’d rather not go through that,” Anthony said. “I’mma bow out gracefully. … Basketball ain’t the issue. I can’t do that. That’s a hell of a decline. When I look at it overall, the overall big picture, that’s a hell of a decline. So I just had to stand on that. No disrespect, but I can’t accept that.“
- A city-sponsored impacts study intended to guide decision-makers regarding the Sixers‘ plan for a new downtown arena was released on Monday, per Jeff Gammage and Sean Collins Walsh of The Philadelphia Inquirer. According to the report, the proposed 18,500-seat arena would generate about $1.8 billion in additional economic activity during its construction and planned 30 years of operation. The study showed the arena could cause indirect housing displacement through gentrification. Additionally, concerns were raised about impact on transit, a lack of outdoor spaces at the arena and a disparity between the actual amount of new concerns the venue would be able to hold.
- Isaiah Thomas established himself as a key figure in Celtics history after a pair of All-Star seasons and a year in which he averaged 28.9 points per game. However, his exit from Boston was a rocky one after he was traded following a postseason in which he battled through a hip injury and the death of his sister to play for the team. Thomas further explained the situation on the Knuckleheads Podcast (YouTube link). “When I got traded to Cleveland, I was upset because at that point, I put my career on the line for something you could have just broken down to me and told me, ‘If you do play, or if we do this, it could possibly be what it happened to be,’” Thomas said (hat tip to HoopsHype). “It took me three years to really get back to who I am and figure out what was going on. But it was a tough situation. It was a learning experience for myself. I got real love for Boston and everybody in that organization, but it was definitely the wrong way to go about things.” Thomas said that nobody was there to explain that if he played, his could have jeopardized his career by worsening the injury.
Suns Waive Nassir Little, E.J. Liddell
AUGUST 27: The cuts are official, according to PHNX Sports’ Gerald Bourguet (Twitter link). Both players will become unrestricted free agents if they clear waivers later this week.
With just one year of service, Liddell is eligible for a two-way contract with any team besides the Suns. Little, with five seasons of experience, is not two-way eligible.
AUGUST 21: The Suns are waiving forwards Nassir Little and E.J. Liddell, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Both players will become unrestricted free agents.
Liddell being waived doesn’t come as much of a surprise. He looked like the odd man out for the projected 15-man regular season roster after the Suns acquired him a few weeks ago in a salary dump of David Roddy.
The former Ohio State forward missed his rookie season due to an ACL tear, but played in eight games with New Orleans last season. He was sent from the Pelicans to the Hawks in the Dejounte Murray trade this offseason before being rerouted to Phoenix.
Liddell is still just 23 and had a tremendously impressive junior season in college before his injury (19.4 PPG, 2.6 BPG, .374 3PT%) and he played well in the G League last year, averaging 17.3 points per game). The No. 41 overall pick from the 2022 draft is a candidate to catch on elsewhere.
Little being waived is more surprising, since he’s owed $21.75MM over the next three years and seemed like a candidate to be traded for salary-matching purposes down the line. However, the Suns will instead use the stretch provision in removing him from the roster.
There were rumblings in July that Phoenix cutting Little was a possibility. As Charania writes, the Suns moved forward with that plan in order to open up a roster spot and to create more flexibility for signings or trades.
A former first-round pick, Little wasn’t a huge part of Phoenix’s roster last season, averaging 3.4 points in 45 appearances. He was acquired from the Trail Blazers in last September’s three-team Damian Lillard trade after spending the first four years of his career in Portland. In 237 career games, Little holds averages of 5.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. The 25th pick in the 2019 draft, Little is still just 24 and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him earn another guaranteed contract down the line.
In addition to creating more roster flexibility, the Suns are now better positioned to give Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro an opportunity to earn immediate minutes, according to Charania, who notes that the team is high on both rookies (Twitter link). Phoenix landed Dunn 28th overall and Ighodaro at No. 40 in June’s draft.
With Little and Liddell waived, the Suns have 14 players on standard contracts and three players on two-way deals, so their opening day roster looks to be mostly set.
The Suns had until Aug. 31 to waive Little and stretch his contract through 2030/31 while reducing his $6.75MM cap hit this season. Under the stretch provision, his remaining salary will be paid over twice the number of seasons remaining on his contract, plus one year. Because he had three years left on his contract, Little’s remaining $21.75MM will be paid out equally over the next seven seasons (through ’30/31), for an annual hit of about $3.1MM.
While reducing their team salary by $3.65MM might not seem worth it at face value, given the long-term impact, the Suns are drastically reducing their tax burden by moving Little. They’re over $36MM over the second tax apron, so the tax savings on that $3.65MM will be significant. Based on their current payroll, stretching Little’s salary will save the Suns approximately $40MM in tax penalties across the next two seasons, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.
And-Ones: Sophomores, PFs, Title Favorites, 2025 Cap Room
The 2023 draft class was a massive success, with rookies like Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller looking like stars for their respective teams. The depth and variety in last season’s rookies was noteworthy, with some like Jaime Jaquez and Brandin Podziemski impressing for playoff contenders as later and older draft picks, while others like Amen Thompson and Dereck Lively shouldered big minutes as younger players.
That doesn’t even factor in Chet Holmgren, who missed what would have been his rookie season in 2022/23 with an injury. In most years, the competition between Wembanyama and other rookies would’ve been nonexistent, but Holmgren stepped forward as another star rookie who helped the Thunder secure the No. 1 seed.
In an article for ESPN+, Jeremy Woo takes a look at and ranks the NBA’s 10m most interesting sophomores. Woo’s list is subjective, so he didn’t include players like Jaquez, Podziemski and Lively since they don’t have as much to gain as others on this list in his eyes, focusing instead on players who hold more intrigue due to their upside
Unsurprisingly, Wembanyama (No. 1), Holmgren (No. 3) and Miller (No. 4) all rank highly. Woo has Houston’s Thompson twin ranking in at No. 2 though, explaining that he has the highest potential of any player on the Rockets and opining that he’s in an ideal situation for his development. Orlando’s Anthony Black also ranks highly as an impact player who has the potential to help shape the Magic’s future.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- After ranking other positions, HoopsHype released their power forward rankings ahead of the 2024/25 season. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the obvious pick at No. 1, but both Zion Williamson (No. 2) and Paolo Banchero (No. 3) rose after successful seasons. GG Jackson came in at No. 22 in the rankings following an impressive rookie season as a second-round pick. Jackson came in at No. 10 on Woo’s list of intriguing sophomores.
- The Celtics rank as an early favorite to become repeat champions after an offseason in which they retained all their key pieces and extended some. However, health and general luck could work against them next season, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report opines. No team has repeated as champs since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, so a Boston repeat is far from a given, even though they had a tremendous offseason. Pincus ranks the top 10 contenders in the NBA and offers arguments against each one winning next year’s title.
- Based on current projections, only the Nets and the Wizards will have enough cap space to offer a max contract next summer, as Danny Leroux of The Athletic observes. Leroux looks over the projected 2025 cap sheets for all 30 teams across the league, identifying the Rockets, Heat and Bulls as some of the more interesting cases in 2025. The Rockets could keep the roster together or might be inclined to part with Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green while opening up as much as $69MM in space. Meanwhile, the Heat’s situation is dependent on what Jimmy Butler wants to do, while the Bulls could create space if they move off Zach LaVine or Nikola Vucevic.
Bucks Sign James Akinjo, Liam Robbins To Exhibit 10 Deals
The Bucks have signed guard James Akinjo and center Liam Robbins, the team announced today in a press release. Both players received Exhibit 10 contracts, according to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link).
Both Akinjo and Robbins have previously spent time with other teams on training camp contracts but haven’t yet seen regular season NBA action.
Akinjo is a 6’1″ guard out of Baylor who has signed Exhibit 10 deals with the Knicks and Kings, as well as previously spending summer league with the Hawks. He played this summer for the Bucks, appearing in two games and totaling four points in Las Vegas.
Akinjo has played more extensively at the G League level. In 2022/23 with the Westchester Knicks, Akinjo averaged 14.7 points and 7.8 assists per game while making 37.4% of his threes. Last season, he split time between the Stockton Kings and Wisconsin Herd, averaging 9.6 PPG and 4.2 APG in 31 G League appearances.
Robbins, a 7’0″ center from Vanderbilt, signed with the Pelicans on an Exhibit 10 deal last summer but suffered a stress reaction in his fibula and was waived. Before the injury, he seemed like a prime candidate to compete for a two-way contract. He had an impressive final college season at Vanderbilt, averaging 15.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.2 blocks while shooting 36.5% from three.
Robbins still ended up being allocated to the Birmingham Squadron but was deactivated in January without playing a game in the G League due to his injury.
The Bucks have all three of their two-way contract spots filled, so Akinjo and Robbins will have an uphill climb to make Milwaukee’s roster. By signing Exhibit 10 deals, Akinjo and Robbins will receive bonuses worth up to $77.5K on top of their standard G League salaries as long as they spend at least 60 days with the Herd after being waived by the Bucks.
Milwaukee now has 20 players officially under contract, with Philip Alston also reported to be joining the team on an Exhibit 10 deal.
Matt Ryan Re-Signs With Pelicans On Camp Deal
AUGUST 27: Ryan’s new deal with the Pelicans is now official, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.
Ryan’s non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract includes Exhibit 9 language (protecting the team in the event of a preseason injury), but not Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has learned.
That means it can’t be converted into a two-way deal and won’t award Ryan a bonus if he’s waived and then spends time with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League team.
AUGUST 26: The Pelicans are re-signing Matt Ryan on a reworked one-year contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Ryan was waived on Friday.
Ryan, 27, appeared in 28 games for New Orleans in 2023/24, averaging 5.4 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 45.1% from three-point range in 13.9 minutes per contest. He missed several weeks of action last season due to a right calf strain and a right elbow injury, which required surgery in December.
New Orleans claimed Ryan off waivers last October, inheriting the two-way contract he signed with Minnesota shortly before the start of training camp. He also had brief stints with the Celtics and Lakers earlier in his career.
The Pelicans converted Ryan to a standard contract at the very end of last season, making him playoff-eligible. However, his three-year deal — which featured a significant end-of-season payday in ’23/24 — was non-guaranteed for the ’24/25 and ’25/26 seasons.
Ryan’s salary for ’24/25 would have become guaranteed if he had remained under contract through the start of the regular season. While we don’t know the details of the new contract yet, it’s likely another minimum-salary deal that won’t become guaranteed until the league-wide date of January 10. It should also have a cap hit of $2,087,519 instead of $2,196,970.
The Pelicans now have 15 players on standard contracts, with 13 players on guaranteed salaries.