NBA’s Youngest, Oldest Opening Night Rosters
After an offseason packed with trades, free agent signings, and other roster moves, the NBA’s 30 teams set their 15-man squads for the regular season on Monday. We’ll be taking a closer look at those rosters today, starting with the average age of the players on each team.
As a general rule, the league’s older, more veteran teams are the ones we expect to contend for a championship, and that’s mostly the case this year too. The Cavaliers, with an average age of 30 years and four days, are the NBA’s oldest team by a significant margin. No other team has an average age above 29. However, the teams that join the Cavs at that end of the spectrum are title contenders — the Rockets, Warriors, and Spurs all have an average team age above 28.
It’s not always the case that contending teams skew older. The Celtics, for instance, have an average age of just 25 years and 17 days, making them the sixth-youngest team in the NBA. For the most part though, the younger clubs are the ones in the midst of a rebuild or having gone through “The Process” of a rebuild — the Sixers, Lakers, and Bulls are among the NBA’s five youngest teams, with the Suns (24 years, 173 days) topping the list.
For comparison’s sake, while the Cavs’ average age exceeds 30 years, the division-rival Bulls don’t have a single player in his 30s.
The average ages for all 30 NBA teams are listed below, sorted from youngest to oldest. Our list is based on players’ ages as of Tuesday, and we’re separating years and days by a decimal, so Phoenix would be 24.173.
These figures don’t include a team’s two-way players, and don’t include transactions reported or completed since opening-night rosters were set on Monday. So the Hawks‘ signing of 23-year-old Isaiah Taylor isn’t included, and neither is the Nuggets‘ reported swap of 35-year-old Jameer Nelson for 37-year-old Richard Jefferson.
Here’s the full list:
- Phoenix Suns: 24.173
- Philadelphia 76ers: 24.232
- Chicago Bulls: 24.293
- Portland Trail Blazers: 24.317
- Los Angeles Lakers: 24.320
- Boston Celtics: 25.017
- Toronto Raptors: 25.130
- Denver Nuggets: 25.246
- Orlando Magic: 25.311
- Charlotte Hornets: 25.353
- Brooklyn Nets: 25.355
- Sacramento Kings: 26.018
- Detroit Pistons: 26.021
- Milwaukee Bucks: 26.038
- Memphis Grizzlies: 26.079
- Atlanta Hawks: 26.108
- Indiana Pacers: 26.125
- New York Knicks: 26.234
- Miami Heat: 26.274
- Los Angeles Clippers: 26.296
- Utah Jazz: 26.330
- Minnesota Timberwolves: 27.080
- Washington Wizards: 27.098
- Oklahoma City Thunder: 27.139
- New Orleans Pelicans: 27.285
- Dallas Mavericks: 28.114
- Houston Rockets: 28.148
- Golden State Warriors: 28.262
- San Antonio Spurs: 28.298
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 30.004
Information from Basketball-Reference was used in the creation of this post.
Suns Exercise Options On Booker, Bender, Chriss
The Suns have exercised teams options on the contracts of Devin Booker, Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss, according to their website. The trio will remain under contract through the 2018/19 season.
Booker, who was the no. 13 overall pick in the 2015 draft, broke out last season, scoring 22.1 points per game in the Suns’ fast-paced offense. The Kentucky product will make approximately $2.32MM this season and as a result of the team picking up his option, he’ll take home $3.31MM next year.
Bender’s 2018/19 team option is worth roughly $4.67MM and Chriss’ will come in at slightly under $3.21MM. The team controls each player for at minimum two additional two seasons beyond the 2018/19 campaign. Each of the big men’s contracts has another team option in it for the 2019/20 season and if exercised, the team can extend a qualifying offer to each player during the following offseason, rendering them restricted free agents.
Booker can become a restricted free agent during the summer of 2019, though I would expect the team to make an attempt at extending the shooting guard next summer. Per the team’s website, among all players with two years of experience under the age of 21, only LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Kevin Durant have scored more than Booker’s 2,774 total points.
And-Ones: Trade Predictions, Perkins, Extensions
In his latest predictions feature, Zach Lowe of ESPN speculates that a number of players will be put on the block this season if not officially traded. Since we already know that there’s at least some truth to the oddly specific guess that the Timberwolves would trade Cole Aldrich for Jared Dudley, perhaps we should take a closer look at some of the rest.
Among the other trade predictions that Lowe makes is one that has the Raptors seeking to shop big man Jonas Valanciunas. Considering that the traditional Lithuanian center has been the subject of speculation over the course of the past few seasons, this one seems like rather low hanging fruit.
Similarly, Lowe makes the thoroughly uncrazy prediction that Eric Bledsoe will be on the move. What bonus points Lowe doesn’t earn for predicting a Bledsoe trade, however, he does earn for earmarking the Nuggets and Clippers as possible interested suitors. Alas Denver, it’s worth noting, is already rather backloaded at the guard positions.
Other players that come up in Lowe’s column include the likes Dennis Schroder, DeAndre Jordan and Tobias Harris.
There’s more from around the league:
- The NBA will name Michelle Johnson their new Senior Vice President and Head of Referee Operations, Shams Charania of The Vertical tweets. Johnson is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General.
- The NBA coaching community could soon have another recent league veteran join its ranks. As Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype writes, Kendrick Perkins – who played 11 seasons in the NBA – believes he would have plenty of options to accept a role on the sidelines.
- Only a few players from the 2014 NBA Draft class have landed sizable pay days and that’s for good reason, Mitch Lawrence of Forbes writes. Beyond players like Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, few have earned substantial rookie contract extensions. Only Marcus Smart, he writes, has been a notable contributor to an elite playoff team.
Suns Waive Tidjan Keita, Elijah Millsap
2:45pm: In addition to cutting Keita, the Suns have also waived swingman Elijah Millsap, tweets Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Having dropped Millsap’s non-guaranteed deal, Phoenix is now ready for the regular season, with 15 NBA players and two on two-way contracts.
1:54pm: The Suns have waived French forward/center Tidjan Keita, according to the team website. Keita just signed on Friday, so the organization seems to have plans for him in the G League.
The 20-year-old got an invitation to camp based on a pre-draft workout with the team in May and an impressive showing with Toronto’s entry in the Las Vegas Summer League.
The move brings the Phoenix roster down to 18 players, including two-way deals for Alec Peters and Mike James. One more move will be necessary to reach the limit.
C.J. McCollum Suspended For One Game
The NBA has suspended Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum for one game without pay for leaving the bench during an altercation during a preseason contest, the league announced today in a press release. The incident took place during Wednesday’s game in Phoenix.
The Trail Blazers are scheduled to return to Phoenix to play the Suns on Wednesday in their first game of the season, so McCollum will be ineligible to appear in that contest. McCollum’s season will begin next Friday in Indiana against the Pacers.
The suspension will cost McCollum $165K in salary, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
Devin Booker A Candidate For a Max Extension Next Season
- Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins became the latest players to sign maximum rookie deals and the Suns‘ budding star, Devin Booker, could be in the same boat next year, Scott Bordow of Arizona Central Sports writes.
- Veteran center Tyson Chandler has become a voice of reason and guidance for a young Suns team, Bordow writes in a separate story.
Cole Aldrich Trade Prediction Has 'Legs'
- A prediction that the Timberwolves could send Cole Aldrich and a second-round pick to the Suns for Jared Dudley has legs, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets. Minnesota has been particularly interested in Dudley’s recovery from offseason toe surgery.
Suns Sign Tidjan Keita
The Suns have made an addition to their preseason roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed undrafted rookie Tidjan Keita. The club’s roster is now back up to 19 players.
Keita, a 6’10” forward/center, played for the Raptors in this year’s Las Vegas Summer League after going undrafted in June. The 20-year-old Frenchman spent last season at the Thetford Academy in Quebec, Canada. His lone mention in the Hoops Rumors archives prior to today was related to a pre-draft workout with Phoenix back in May, so the Suns must have liked what they saw from him during that session.
Details of Keita’s agreement aren’t known, but it’s likely a non-guaranteed deal, perhaps with an Exhibit 10 clause. I’d expect the Suns intend to have the youngster join their G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns.
Suns Waive Anthony Bennett, Peter Jok
The Suns have requested waivers on veteran forward Anthony Bennett and rookie swingman Peter Jok, the team announced today in a press release.
Bennett and Jok joined the Suns for training camp and the preseason, but neither player appeared in any of the club’s preseason contests. They’ll become unrestricted free agents if and when they clear waivers on Friday.
Jok appears to be a good candidate to join Phoenix’s G League team, the Northern Arizona Suns, as an affiliate player, though it’s not clear what the next move will be for Bennett. The former first overall pick has spent time with the Cavaliers, Timberwolves, Raptors, and Nets since entering the league in 2013, but seems unlikely to begin the 2017/18 season on an NBA roster.
Phoenix now has 18 players under contract, including 14 on guaranteed deals and two on two-way contracts.
Alex Len Making Great Strides During Preseason Play
- Alex Len has posted 16.6 PPG and 9.3 RPG for the Suns during the preseason and the team is thrilled with the 24-year-old’s progress, NBA.com’s Cody Cunningham writes.