Contract Details: Gardner, Highsmith, Houstan, Jones, Two-Ways
Heat swingman Myron Gardner will receive a minimum salary ($395,029) for the rest of the 2025/26 season after being promoted from his two-way contract. However, Miami had to use a portion of its non-taxpayer mid-level exception in order to complete his deal, since it includes two additional years beyond this season.
Gardner’s second year features a partial guarantee of $500K, and he’ll receive his full minimum salary of $2,150,917 for 2026/27 if he remains under contract through January 7 next year, Hoops Rumors has learned. The third year of the deal is fully non-guaranteed, but the Miami wing would receive his full $2,525,901 salary if he isn’t waived on or before July 15, 2027.
Here are a few more details on the contracts recently completed around the NBA:
- Haywood Highsmith‘s two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Suns includes a $1MM partial guarantee for 2026/27, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It also features language protecting the team in the event that the veteran wing re-injures his surgically repaired right knee, Hoops Rumors has learned.
- As expected, both Caleb Houstan of the Hawks and Spencer Jones of the Nuggets were unilaterally converted from their two-way contracts to rest-of-season, minimum-salary contracts rather than negotiating new deals. Houstan will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, while Jones will be eligible for restricted free agency.
- The two-way contracts recently signed by Tyrese Martin (Sixers), Trevor Keels (Heat), and Jeenathan Williams (Warriors) are each for one year, while Riley Minix‘s new two-way deal with the Cavaliers will cover two seasons, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Cavaliers Sign Riley Minix To Two-Way Deal
The Cavaliers have signed Riley Minix to a two-way contract, according to the NBA’s official transaction log.
The 25-year-old forward opened the season on a two-way deal with the Spurs and appeared in three games for San Antonio, scoring three points in eight total minutes. He was waived in December in order to make room on the Spurs’ roster for newcomer Kyle Mangas.
Since being cut by the Spurs, Minix has been playing for the Cavaliers’ G League team, the Cleveland Charge. In 12 regular season outings for the Charge, he has averaged 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game with a strong shooting line of .556/.457/.741.
The Cavs had been carrying Tristan Enaruna and Emanuel Miller on two-way deals, the latter of whom they received in the trade for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder. Minix will take the team’s third two-way spot, which recently opened up when Nae’Qwan Tomlin was promoted to the 15-man roster.
Minix will be eligible to be active for up to 17 regular season games, a prorated portion of the usual 50-game limit.
Spurs Sign Kyle Mangas To Two-Way Deal, Waive Riley Minix
The Spurs have signed guard Kyle Mangas to a two-way contract, according to NBA.com’s transaction log. Two-way forward Riley Minix was waived in order to make room on the roster for Mangas, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (via Twitter).
Mangas, who went undrafted out of Indiana Wesleyan in 2021, has signed non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contracts prior to each of the last three seasons, but has yet to appear in an NBA game. Since going pro, the 6’4″ guard has played in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Canada, and the G League.
Mangas has been playing this fall for the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s NBAGL affiliate. In 10 games, he has averaged 18.5 points, 5.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 35.8 minutes per contest, with a strong shooting line of .500/.411/.727.
Minix had also been playing well at the G League level, with averages of 15.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 3.3 APG on .463/.394/.813 shooting in 11 games for Austin. However, the 25-year-old has only made four total NBA appearances for the Spurs since first joining the team on a two-way contract during the fall of 2024.
Mangas joins David Jones Garcia and Harrison Ingram as the two-way players on the Spurs’ roster. As our tracker shows, he’ll be eligible to be active for up to 35 NBA games on his new two-way deal.
Contract Details: Gill, Potter, Spurs, Clippers
Anthony Gill‘s new one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Wizards is guaranteed, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.
While that had been expected, it’s worth noting that it once again creates a roster crunch in Washington, where the team is now carrying 15 players on guaranteed contracts along with rotation regular Justin Champagnie on a non-guaranteed deal. The Wizards will have to trade or waive one of those 16 players before the regular season begins, with Dillon Jones and Malaki Branham among the potential odd men out.
As part of his new agreement with the Wizards, Gill also waived his right to veto a trade during the 2025/26 season. A player who signs a one-year contract with his previous team typically gets an implicit no-trade clause, but a club can ask the player to give it up when he re-signs.
While the Wizards can now freely trade Gill beginning on December 15, he has established himself as a veteran locker-room leader in D.C. in recent years and will be earning the minimum, so he doesn’t seem like an obvious candidate to be moved ahead of February’s deadline.
Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts:
- The non-guaranteed contracts that Micah Potter and Adam Flagler signed with the Spurs contain both Exhibit 9 and Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Potter and Flagler would each earn bonuses worth $85,300 if they’re waived by San Antonio and then spend at least 60 days with the Austin Spurs in the G League.
- Both Riley Minix and Harrison Ingram simply accepted their two-way qualifying offers when they re-signed with the Spurs, so their two-way deals are both one-year pacts that include partial guarantees of $85,300 apiece.
- Patrick Baldwin Jr. and TyTy Washington Jr. both got maximum Exhibit 10 bonuses ($85,300) on their deals with the Clippers. Los Angeles already holds Baldwin’s G League rights and could obtain Washington’s by designating him as an affiliate player, so it appears likely both players will end up with the San Diego Clippers in the NBAGL if they aren’t converted to two-way contracts prior to the regular season.
Spurs Re-Sign Riley Minix On Two-Way Contract
10:00 pm: The signing is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
7:35 pm: The Spurs are re-signing Riley Minix on a two-way deal, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets. San Antonio had a pair of open two-way slots, so no corresponding move will be necessary.
Minix, 24, appeared in one game with San Antonio last season. The 6’7″ forward was a restricted free agent after receiving a two-way qualifying offer from the Spurs in June.
Minix underwent season-ending surgery in January to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He sustained the injury during a G League game vs. Iowa on January 1.
The former Morehead State standout was healthy enough to play for the Spurs’ Summer League team last month and saw action in five games. He averaged 10.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 48.6 percent from the field in 23.9 minutes per game.
San Antonio signed Minix to an Exhibit 10 deal in July 2024 after he went undrafted. He had his Exhibit 10 deal converted to a two-way contract ahead of the regular season.
The 24-year-old averaged 19.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.2 BPG with an impressive .524/.414/.853 shooting line in 19 total contests (31.6 MPG) for the G League Austin Spurs last season.
Suns’ Gillepsie, Lakers’ Koloko Among Two-Way Players Receiving QOs
A series of players who finished the 2024/25 season on two-way contracts have received qualifying offers from their respective teams, making them free agents, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac. Those players are as follows (all links go to Twitter):
- Isaiah Crawford, Kings (link)
- Collin Gillespie, Suns link)
- Harrison Ingram, Spurs (link)
- Daniss Jenkins, Pistons (link)
- Spencer Jones, Nuggets (link)
- Christian Koloko, Lakers (link)
- Riley Minix, Spurs (link)
- Jacob Toppin, Hawks (link)
- Luke Travers, Cavaliers (link)
- Tristan Vukcevic, Wizards (link)
- Keaton Wallace, Hawks (link)
In each case, the player’s qualifying offer is equivalent to another one-year, two-way deal, with a small portion (approximately $85K) guaranteed.
While a rival team could technically sign any of these players to an offer sheet during free agency, we essentially never see that happen with two-way free agents. Most of them end up either accepting their two-way QOs or agreeing to new standard contracts with their current teams.
Gillespie, who turned 26 on Wednesday, is among the players who made a strong case for a promotion to a standard contract this past season. He averaged 5.9 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game for Phoenix across 33 appearances (nine starts) and made 43.3% of his three-point tries.
Koloko (2.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 37 games), Vukcevic (9.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and .496/.373/.776 shooting in 35 games), and Wallace (5.4 PPG and 2.6 APG in 31 games) also played rotation minutes for their respective clubs in 2024/25.
Sunday is the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to players who are eligible for restricted free agency.
Spurs’ Riley Minix Out For Season Following Shoulder Surgery
Rookie forward Riley Minix, who is on a two-way contract with the Spurs, underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, the team announced today in a press release.
Minix sustained the injury during a G League game vs. Iowa on January 1. He will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2024/25 season as he recovers from the procedure, according to the Spurs.
San Antonio signed Minix to an Exhibit 10 deal in July after he went undrafted in June. The 24-year-old averaged 20.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 block per game while shooting 34.9% on three-pointers as a senior at Morehead State last season.
Minix averaged 9.0 PPG in four Summer League games and 7.7 PPG in three preseason outings, impressing the Spurs enough to have his Exhibit 10 deal converted to a two-way contract ahead of the regular season.
The 6’7″ forward made just one NBA appearance for San Antonio as a rookie, spending most of his time in the G League, where he averaged 19.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.2 BPG with an impressive .524/.414/.853 shooting line in 19 total contests (31.6 MPG) for Austin.
Minix is assured of receiving his full-season two-way salary ($578,577), having stuck around through last week’s league-wide guarantee deadline. However, it’s unclear if the Spurs will keep him under contract for the rest of the season or replace him with a healthy player. March 4 is the deadline for NBA teams to sign players to two-way deals.
Spurs Notes: Castle, Minix, Wembanyama
No. 4 overall pick Stephon Castle said both before and after the draft that he views himself as a point guard, but his role heading into his rookie season is uncertain, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). The Spurs signed Chris Paul in free agency and also have Tre Jones, who started most of the past two seasons at point. Third-year guards Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley have initiated the offense at times as well.
“I don’t really know, but it doesn’t really matter to me,” Castle said of how head coach Gregg Popovich plans to use him.
Whichever positions Castle is tasked with, he says he’s ready to contribute.
“I feel like just using my versatility to be on the court is the main thing,” said Castle. “Just going out there and not really giving myself any kind of expectations. Just kind of trying to play free. So, I feel like the biggest thing is being on the court so I can find a way to help us win. That’s a good enough role for me.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Popovich claimed last week that he didn’t know who Riley Minix was when training camp opened, but the undrafted rookie forward has made a strong impression on the legendary coach, Orsborn adds. The Spurs recently converted Minix’s Exhibit 10 deal to a two-way contract. He says he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to get Popovich’s attention. “Just staying confident, playing my game, doing whatever the team needed, being able to shoot the ball, make shots when I was open, just all the little things I have been doing all my life,” Minix said.
- Rookie of the Year. Runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. All-Defensive First Team. Silver medal. Big man Victor Wembanyama accomplished all of those things in his first year-plus after being selected No. 1 overall in 2023. While he doesn’t take those accolades for granted, Wembanyama says he has much more he wants to accomplish, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “It’s the same for all of my trophies, team trophies or even individual,” Wembanyama said. “I love them. I really cherish them. But I want all my trophies that I get right now to be bricks to build something great in the future. You know, one brick by itself is not much. You can get a palace when you accumulate them.”
- In case you missed it, guards Malachi Flynn, Brandon Boston and Jamaree Bouyea — all of whom were on Exhibit 10 deals for training camp — were released on Saturday to finalize San Antonio’s regular season roster. Boston was subsequently claimed by the Pelicans on Monday.
Spurs Convert Riley Minix To Two-Way Contract
The Spurs announced on Saturday that they’ve converted former Morehead State forward Riley Minix to a two-way contract. Minix impressed in this offseason for San Antonio, averaging 7.7 points in 7.8 minutes across three preseason games.
San Antonio signed Minix to an Exhibit 10 deal in July after he went undrafted in June. Minix averaged 20.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 34.9% from three as a 6’7″ forward at Morehead State. He also averaged 9.0 PPG in four summer league games.
Because he was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal and the Spurs had an open two-way slot, no corresponding moves were necessary in converting his contract. The Spurs’ roster still stands at 21 players, three over the regular season limit. Minix’s conversion is an indication that fellow Exhibit 10 signees Malachi Flynn, Brandon Boston Jr. and Jamaree Bouyea didn’t make the team.
Assuming that’s the case, all three of those players will likely be waived today. If they spend at least 60 days with the Austin Spurs in the G League, they’ll each receive a bonus worth $77.5K.
Minix joins David Duke Jr. and Harrison Ingram as San Antonio’s two-way players for the upcoming season.
Southwest Notes: Minix, Edey, Pelicans Offense, Kleber
Undrafted rookie Riley Minix signed a training camp deal with the Spurs in July. The former Morehead State guard has been so impressive, he’s got a shot to earn one of the team’s two-way spots, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News writes.
Minix came into Tuesday night’s preseason game against the Heat averaging 7.8 points in 7.8 minutes per game while shooting 57.1% from 3-point range on 2.3 attempts per night. He didn’t get off the bench as the Spurs played their regulars to a great extent.
“He’s a young man that is probably still pinching himself that he is on an NBA team and doing what he is doing because it’s probably not what he expected several years ago,” coach Gregg Popovich said of the 24-year-old, who played four seasons at an NAIA school before joining Morehead State. “But he is a tough young man. He is intelligent. He learns. And he can shoot the basketball. He has become a pleasant surprise.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- Some people were skeptical of whether former Purdue star center Zach Edey could make a smooth transition to the NBA. Edey, drafted in the lottery by the Grizzlies, put on a show against Indiana on Monday, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal notes. Edey finished with 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting in 19 minutes and had nine rebounds. Edey displayed a sweet hook shot and a variety of low-post moves. “History will likely show that where he was chosen in the draft was low,” opposing head coach Rick Carlisle said of the No. 9 overall pick after the game, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
- The Pelicans have ranked among the bottom 10 in the league in three-point attempts during Willie Green‘s first three seasons as head coach. Green is intent on changing that, according to Christian Clark of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. New Orleans averaged 32.6 three-point tries last season. “The message has been pretty clear,” Zion Williamson said. “Get up at least 40 per game. That means we have to play with pace. And just play basketball. In the grand scheme of things, it’s definitely going to be a positive for us.”
- The Mavericks are hopeful big man Maxi Kleber will be able to suit up for the regular season opener, according to Dwain Price of Mavs.com. “He got hurt in September – right before camp. He stepped on someone’s foot and sprained his ankle,” coach Jason Kidd said. “But his rehab and everything, he’s doing great. He had a great workout this morning, so he should be, hopefully, ready to go on opening night.”