The NBA season is here, but first ...
Eighteen members of the league's 2019 draft class, led by Golden State's Jordan Poole, are still in play for contract extensions before Opening Night. How many will actually secure one? Let's examine
The looming start of the NBA’s 77th season means that, as always, there’s one more ballyhooed transactional deadline to clear before the annual procession of 1,230 games begins.
If next Tuesday is Opening Night, then Monday at 6 PM ET is the buzzer for first-round picks from the NBA Draft Class of 2019 to sign rookie scale contract extensions.
With the usual assist from my salary cap maven pal @KeithSmithNBA, here’s a breakdown of what to expect over the next few days:
ALREADY DONE VIA MAX DEAL
New Orleans’ Zion Williamson (drafted No. 1 overall in 2019)
Memphis’ Ja Morant (No. 2)
Cleveland’s Darius Garland (No. 5)
Williamson, Morant and Garland all signed five-year deals worth a minimum of $194.6 million and potentially rising to $233.2 million (figures courtesy of Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus) if any member of the trio earns All-NBA honors or the Most Valuable Player or Defensive Player of the Year award for the 2022-23 season.
ALREADY DONE BELOW THE MAX
New York’s RJ Barrett (No. 3)
Miami’s Tyler Herro (No. 13)
San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson (No. 29)
Barrett landed a four-year pact worth at least $107 million to become the first Knicks first-round pick — as you’ve surely heard by now — to sign a contract extension since (gasp) Charlie Ward (who was drafted No. 26 in 1994). Miami’s Herro scored a four-year deal worth at least $120 million and San Antonio’s Johnson signed for a minimum of $74 million over four years.
STRONGEST CANDIDATE TO JOIN THOSE SIX
Golden State’s Jordan Poole (No. 28)
Poole is the closest thing to a lock to snag his own bag, as the kids say, among the 18 players eligible for extensions between now and Monday evening.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said as much Sunday night when Poole, in the public eye for the first time since absorbing a vicious practice-floor punch from Draymond Green, uncorked 25 points in a 23-minute preseason outing against the Lakers.
“There’s a reason Jordan is who he is right now,” Kerr said. “Especially considering where he was coming out of Michigan, a late first-round pick, struggling his first few months in the league. There’s a reason he’s in this position, about to sign a big extension hopefully. He’s just tough. He’s mentally tough and physically tough and ultraconfident in his game.”
Poole wowed many in the organization when he was back on the floor, roughly within a half-hour of Green’s punch, to engage in his usual post-practice shooting routine. Golden State’s finances going forward are undoubtedly complicated — with Andrew Wiggins, Thompson and, yes, Green all eligible for new deals in the near future — but no extension for Poole now would send him to restricted free agency at season’s end and unsettle his world further in the wake of the Green altercation.
Poole’s expected deal, as with Barrett and Herro, is projected to cross the $100 million threshold even though he remains No. 3 in Golden State’s backcourt pecking order behind Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
“We’re all excited for Jordan and the position he’s in,” Kerr said. “We’ll see whether something gets done. But I’m just thrilled for him because you always root for the guys who put the work in.
“The thing I’ve told him is that I would like to play him a lot more in this year’s playoffs. The improvement has to come at the defensive end and I think it will. He works really hard in the weight room. Our strength coaches tell me he’s one of our strongest players, so it’s really a matter of continuing his progression defensively. … It’s really at the defensive end that will determine: Can he take another leap and become an All-Star player?”
OTHER TOP CONTENDERS
Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter (No. 4)
Phoenix’s Cam Johnson (No. 11)
Philadelphia’s Matisse Thybulle (No. 20)
Memphis’ Brandon Clarke (No. 21)
Boston’s Grant Williams (No. 22)
Restricted free agency looms next summer for this fivesome if deals are not struck before Monday’s deadline. Any of the five could complete an extension in time or elect to wait until the offseason to bring external bidders into the process — with Hunter widely believed to have the best chance of scoring a deal over the next five-plus days.
Johnson’s case is more difficult to project because the Suns, even though they’ve committed to him as their starting small forward over veteran Jae Crowder, have been unpredictable when it comes to extension matters. While Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet got extensions, Deandre Ayton most famously did not and still appears to be upset about the contentious nature of monthslong contract talks that were only brought to a conclusion when Indiana signed the restricted free agent center to a four-year, $133 million contract in July that Phoenix matched.
ALSO ELIGIBLE
Chicago’s Coby White (No. 7)
New Orleans’ Jaxson Hayes (No. 8)
Washington’s Rui Hachimura (No. 9)
New York’s Cam Reddish (No. 10)
Charlotte’s P.J. Washington (No. 12)
San Antonio’s Romeo Langford (No. 14)
Utah’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker (No. 17)
Indiana’s Goga Bitadze (No. 18)
Oklahoma City’s Darius Bazley (No. 23)
Portland’s Nassir Little (No. 25)
Cleveland’s Dylan Windler (No. 26)
Houston’s Kevin Porter Jr. (No. 30)
Reddish and Porter began their careers with Atlanta and Cleveland, respectively, but both are eligible for extensions with their new teams because they remain on their original rookie contracts. Ditto for Alexander-Walker, who was dealt from New Orleans to Portland and then the Jazz before last February’s trade deadline.
NOT YET ELIGIBLE
Orlando’s Chuma Okeke (No. 16)
While forever a member of the Class of 2019, Okeke was injured that year and did not actually sign with the Magic until 2020, meaning he’ll have to wait until the next offseason to become extension eligible.
NOT ELIGIBLE FOR EXTENSIONS
Jarrett Culver (No. 6)
Sekou Doumbouya (No. 15)
Luka Šamanić (No. 19)
Ty Jerome (No. 24)
Mfiondu Kabengele (No. 27)
Culver was signed heading into training camp by Atlanta, Golden State signed Jerome last week after his recent release by Houston and Kabengele is on a two-way contract with Boston. But all five of these players fell shy of completing their rookie-scale deals and thus cannot receive an extension.
Second-round picks, of course, do not sign guaranteed rookie-scale contracts and so are also ineligible for such extensions.
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Numbers Game
🏀 9
When he plays in his first regular-season game as a Rocket, Houston's Boban Marjanović will become the ninth player in league history to play for all three Texas teams. The previous eight: Chucky Brown, Mark Bryant, Avery Johnson, Vernon Maxwell, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Steve Novak, Kevin Willis and David Wood.
🏀 9
The Lakers lost nine consecutive preseason games dating to last season — 0-6 last October followed by an 0-3 start this month — before finally breaking through Sunday night with a win at Golden State.
🏀 26
In the Lakers' 62 seasons in Los Angeles, they've won 12 championships and reached the NBA Finals 26 times.
🏀 7
The average number of games missed with a Grade 2 ankle sprain is seven, according to data maintained by Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes. The Hornets have yet to announce a firm recovery timetable for All-Star guard LaMelo Ball but that is the injury Ball is reported to have sustained Monday night.
🏀 5
When it lost the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics to the United States, France had five NBA players on its roster compared to the Americans' 12:
Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot and Frank Ntilikina. Rest assured that the recently completed EuroBasket tournament will be France's last senior national team event for some time without Victor Wembanyama.
🏀 3
The G League Ignite have had three top-10 picks in the last two NBA Drafts: Houston's Jalen Green (No. 2 overall in 2011), Golden State's Jonathan Kuminga (No. 7 in 2011) and New Orleans' Dyson Daniels (No. 8 in 2022). Scoot Henderson is projected to join this list in June as the second most highly rated NBA Draft prospect behind Wembanyama.
🏀 8
There are currently eight G League Ignite alumni on NBA rosters. In addition to Green, Kuminga and Daniels, they are: Milwaukee's MarJon Beauchamp, Philadelphia's Michael Foster Jr., Dallas' Jaden Hardy, Houston's Daishen Nix and Washington's Isaiah Todd.
🏀 75
Good line by Kubatko after watching Wembanyama play two games in Las Vegas last week:
Seems like a really good draft class from stars to great role players.
So I guess this will be the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes for “worst place” in the NBA this year!