After a pair quiet months across the NBA, October is stuffed with necessary deadlines for roster and contract choices. Right here’s our round-up of the dates to keep watch over this month:
Common season roster choices
The 2024/25 common season ideas off on Tuesday, October 22, which suggests groups should set their rosters for the season by 4:00 pm Central time on Monday, October 21. To be in accordance with common season roster limits, a workforce should be carrying not more than 15 gamers on customary contracts and three on two-way offers.
Whereas groups have till Oct. 23 to set their their common season rosters, many golf equipment will make their remaining cuts on or earlier than Saturday, October 19. That’s the ultimate day {that a} workforce can waive a participant on a non-guaranteed contract and keep away from paying any of his wage.
[RELATED: 2024/25 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team]
As a result of a participant will get paid for the time he spends on waivers, a participant who’s reduce on Monday, Oct. 21 wouldn’t clear waivers till Wednesday, Oct. 23, the second day of the common season. That signifies that even when his contract is non-guaranteed, he’d earn two days’ price of his wage.
Groups who intend to waive gamers with partially or totally assured salaries are in higher place to attend till the Monday earlier than the common season begins. As an example, if the Pacers resolve to chop James Johnson, who has a $750K partial assure, it wouldn’t matter in the event that they accomplish that on October 19 or 21 — he’d obtain his $750K both means.
Nonetheless, if the Pacers need to waive Cole Swider, whose wage is totally non-guaranteed, they’d probably accomplish that on the Saturday. Ready till the Monday would imply paying him $23,994 (2/174ths of his $2,087,519 wage).
Two-way contract conversions
A participant on an Exhibit 10 contract can have his deal transformed right into a two-way contract, however solely up till Monday, October 21, the day earlier than the common season begins.
If a participant on an Exhibit 10 contract stays on his workforce’s roster via that Monday with out being transformed to a two-way, his Exhibit 10 deal would develop into a typical non-guaranteed contract.
Since most gamers on Exhibit 10 contracts might be waived on or earlier than October 19, it’s price maintaining tabs on which ones grasp onto their roster spots via that Saturday — these gamers might be good bets to have their offers transformed into two-ways or even perhaps to say a 15-man roster spot.
Contract extensions
The deadline for a participant to signal a rookie scale extension is Monday, October 21 at 5:00 pm Central time.
As of at the moment, 4 of the 24 gamers who have been eligible for a rookie scale extension getting into the offseason have signed one, leaving 20 gamers who nonetheless could also be in search of new offers that may maintain them off the 2024 free agent market.
Rockets middle Alperen Sengun, Pelicans wing Trey Murphy, Hawks ahead Jalen Johnson, and Warriors ahead Jonathan Kuminga are a number of of the notable rookie scale extension candidates to keep watch over within the coming weeks.
It’s a protected guess that a number of gamers eligible for rookie scale extensions will signal them — in every of the previous 4 offseasons (2020 via 2023), no less than 10 gamers have completed so, with a record-setting 14 rookie scale extensions signed a yr in the past.
As for veteran extension candidates, a participant who’s extension-eligible and who’s within the remaining yr of his present contract can signal an extension at any time earlier than or after the common season begins, all the way in which up till June 30, 2025.
Nonetheless, a participant who’s eligible for a veteran extension however who’s not in a contract yr will solely be eligible to signal a brand new deal up till Monday, October 21.
As an example, Pelicans ahead Brandon Ingram will stay eligible to signal a veteran extension even after the common season begins, since he’s within the final yr of his present contract. However Suns ahead Kevin Durant, who has two assured years left, can solely signal an extension up till Oct. 21. After that, he’ll develop into ineligible to signal a brand new deal till subsequent summer time.
An extension-eligible veteran who holds an possibility for 2025/26 will stay extension-eligible after the season begins so long as his possibility is declined as a part of any extension settlement, along with his new contract starting in ’25/26. A participant like Nuggets ahead Aaron Gordon would match this invoice.
Wage assure dates
The league-wide wage assure date to observe is January 7, 2025. A participant on a non-guaranteed contract who isn’t waived by that date and doesn’t clear waivers earlier than January 10 could have his 2024/25 wage develop into totally assured.
Nonetheless, sure gamers have contracts that decision for them to obtain partial or full ensures at first of the common season. Our record of early wage assure dates reveals which gamers fall into that boat on Tuesday, October 22, together with Raptors middle Bruno Fernando and Path Blazers guard Dalano Banton, amongst others.
Rookie scale workforce possibility choices
A workforce that desires to train its 2025/26 third- or fourth-year possibility on a participant on a rookie contract should accomplish that on or earlier than Tuesday, October 31.
As our tracker reveals, the Bulls and Warmth have already made their possibility choices, whereas the Celtics, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, Knicks, Sixers, and Suns don’t have any to make. However the NBA’s different 22 groups should decide up or flip down these rookie scale workforce choices for ’25/26 within the coming weeks.
A workforce that retains a participant with out exercising his 2025/26 possibility would put that participant on monitor for unrestricted free company subsequent offseason. At that time, his workforce wouldn’t be capable of supply him a wage larger than what his possibility would have been price, although rival suitors may supply him greater than that.
