2023 Free Agency

[The Lamma]

Is anyone here going to miss Nate Knight? I'm thinking this is a nothing signing, but admit I've never heard of him until today. His highlights video is mostly dunks. His per 36 numbers look decent. Thanks in advance, and good luck this year

Think of him more like a Theo Pinson

Theo was our top towel waver when we had him. He won the MVT award for Most Valuable Towel

[wolves_89]

Is anyone here going to miss Nate Knight? I'm thinking this is a nothing signing, but admit I've never heard of him until today. His highlights video is mostly dunks. His per 36 numbers look decent. Thanks in advance, and good luck this year

I liked Knight and had hoped he'd develop into a rotation caliber PF, unfortunately it just never happened. He has the physical profile and motor to be a useful player, but in his limited opportunities he never really made the case that he deserved regular minutes.

[minimus]

Any interest in Rudy Gay?

[Klomp]

Any interest in Rudy Gay?

None

[shrink]

Any interest in Rudy Gay?

None

Once we lost the chance to pair him with Love, me and my seven year old sense of humor lost all interest.

[KGdaBom]

Any interest in Rudy Gay?

None

Once we lost the chance to pair him with Love, me and my seven year old sense of humor lost all interest.

Have they ever played on the same team. I'd love to see it. Yes my sense of humor can be juvenile.

[younggunsmn]

Is anyone here going to miss Nate Knight? I'm thinking this is a nothing signing, but admit I've never heard of him until today. His highlights video is mostly dunks. His per 36 numbers look decent. Thanks in advance, and good luck this year

Nope. He's a bit of a tweener, too small for 5 not skilled enough for the 4.
Had some moments where he flashed, but not a reliable shooter or rebounder.

Sealed his exit when he didn't run back on defense during garbage time in the game 1 blowout against Denver.

He was a great towel waver and a good teammate.
Got outdressed by Luka Garza though when not active.

[Note30]

Any interest in Rudy Gay?

None

Once we lost the chance to pair him with Love, me and my seven year old sense of humor lost all interest.

George, Love, Gay, Cousins, Johnson

We could had a dynasty.

[Klomp]

Is anyone here going to miss Nate Knight? I'm thinking this is a nothing signing, but admit I've never heard of him until today. His highlights video is mostly dunks. His per 36 numbers look decent. Thanks in advance, and good luck this year

Read on Twitter

[younggunsmn]

Tyrese Martin got cut by the Hawks.
Any interest for our 3rd 2-way spot in him as a wing?
He looks like an NBA player from the little I've seen.

[shrink]

I just listened to Lock’d On talk about the third three way spot, and just wanted to make sure everyone was clear that according to the new CBA, we wouldn’t get it unless we had 15 on the roster.

[younggunsmn]

From what I read, the rule is that you get it once you have 14 players.
But the number of games you can have 2-way players active is limited (90 games) until you get to 15 players.

https://nbpa.com/cba/

It's right there if you click on current CBA document, page 52

Any Regular Season game for which a Team has fewer than
fifteen (15) players signed to Standard NBA Contracts shall
be an “Under-Fifteen Game.” No Team shall be permitted
to have a Two-Way Player on its Active List for more than
ninety (90) Under-Fifteen Games during a Regular Season.
For purposes of the foregoing rule: (A) an Under-Fifteen
Game for which a Team has one (1) Two-Way Player on its
Active List shall count as one (1) Under-Fifteen Game;
(B) an Under-Fifteen Game for which a Team has two (2)
Two-Way Players on its Active List shall count as two (2)
Under-Fifteen Games; and (C) an Under-Fifteen Game for which a Team has three (3) Two-Way Players on its Active
List shall count as three (3) Under-Fifteen Games

[TimberKat]

From what I read, the rule is that you get it once you have 14 players.
But the number of games you can have 2-way players active is limited (90 games) until you get to 15 players.

https://nbpa.com/cba/

It's right there if you click on current CBA document, page 52

Any Regular Season game for which a Team has fewer than
fifteen (15) players signed to Standard NBA Contracts shall
be an “Under-Fifteen Game.” No Team shall be permitted
to have a Two-Way Player on its Active List for more than
ninety (90) Under-Fifteen Games during a Regular Season.
For purposes of the foregoing rule: (A) an Under-Fifteen
Game for which a Team has one (1) Two-Way Player on its
Active List shall count as one (1) Under-Fifteen Game;
(B) an Under-Fifteen Game for which a Team has two (2)
Two-Way Players on its Active List shall count as two (2)
Under-Fifteen Games; and (C) an Under-Fifteen Game for which a Team has three (3) Two-Way Players on its Active
List shall count as three (3) Under-Fifteen Games

Yes, that seems to imply you can have 3 two-way contracts. All those 2 way contracts can play any combo of 90 games. Each player appearance count as one game.

[shrink]

Hmmm! I have heard Keith Smith on the Front Office Show podcast repeat three times that a team needs to sign a 15th player to a standard contract to get the third two way deal, but I can’t find anything corroborating that. One time, he went into great detail explaining that the rule was in place so that adding a third two way didn’t start costing 15th men standard salaries, and simply let teams now stick with 14 regular season contracts.

Now, Smitty is very rarely wrong on CBA stuff, but in twenty minutes of google searching, I couldn’t find anything that mentioned needing to sign a 15th guy before you sign a third two-way. Because my faith in Smitty is so strong, I didn’t take what you posted as gospel about signing. For example, a team with 15 players could sign their third two way at the beginning of the season, make a 2-for-1 trade and become an Under-fifteen team, and not replace him. The restrictions you listed “start the clock” on counting the number of games for two way players, instead of paying for a 15th man. This is better imho than simply forcing the team to waive their third two way player if they drop down to 14 players - it gives them time to find a 15th man.

However, CBS Spots even talked directly about the issue Smith raised:

The new CBA outlines one significant change that will affect all 30 teams. The 2017 CBA introduced the concept of two-way players, who split time between the NBA and G-League. Thus far, teams have been allowed to have two of them at a time. Now, that figure is increasing to three. Something to keep an eye on here is how it affects the final roster spot on certain teams. Owners looking to save a buck have frequently carried only 14 players with standard, NBA contracts on their roster for parts of the season knowing that cheaper two-way players can fill in when necessary. With three slots, that temptation is only going to get stronger. NBA rules still forbid teams from having two-way players active for more than 90 combined games in a season, but with three slots, teams will be able to cycle through two-way players and experiment more with ones that they like, which could steer them away from signing pricier veterans.

It's an interesting tradeoff from the union's perspective. They are undoubtedly losing full-salary jobs in this arrangement, and veterans tend to hold more sway than youngsters within the player's association. However, 30 new two-way slots will give so many more young players opportunities to prove they belong in the league that the union likely viewed the tradeoff as worthwhile.

Smitty also mentioned once that by the end of the season, the 30 NBA teams needed to average some number (like 14.3?) regular salaried players, or there was some sort of punishment. This was supposed to be some added insurance that the extra two way player simply took a paying job from some 15th man.

EDIT: One last thought. Maybe Smitty is wrong about a specific rule preventing a team from signing a third two way only if they have 15. However, the rule youngguns posted would mean that teams that had 14+3 would start the season with the clock running. Three two way deals, all active, would only last you 30 games total in an 82 game season.

[younggunsmn]

Pretty sure Smitty is wrong, it's explicit about 3 two way players and the 90 game limitation, and if there were more it would have been in that section.

There is also a rule that teams can only drop below 14 players for 28 days total and not more than 14 consecutive.

That and the 90 game thing are the rules designed to protect teams from abusing 2 way contracts.

[younggunsmn]

Hmm. dug into this one a bit.
Interesting.

On page 429 it digs into the two-way contracts.

Teams can carry 12 or 13 Active players for no more than 28 days (and 14 consecutive).
That includes 2-way players though.

If, over a 2 season period, All NBA teams average less than 14.25 regular contracts,
then for the rest of the agreement,
they are able to carry 13 or 14 active players no more than 28 days (and 14 consecutive).

Also, if over a 2 season period, All NBA teams average less than 14.50 regular contracts,
the player's association has the right to terminate the 3rd 2-way contract, and all teams get only 2 two-way contracts for the remainder of the agreement.

This is probably what Smitty is referring to.
So if teams abuse the 3rd two-way, the players association can take it away.

[Klomp]

Has the number of players on the 'active' roster changed without some people noticing? Could that be a reason for the confusion?

[GopherIt!]

None

Once we lost the chance to pair him with Love, me and my seven year old sense of humor lost all interest.

Gay, Love, Sessions, Cousins, Johnson

We could had a dynasty.

Fixed

[shrink]

Thank you, GopherIt!!!

A few days ago, I missed Ramone when I spent ten minutes scouring the entire NBA player list from 2010, because I could remember giggling at “Gay-Love-<Blank>!”

[andyhop]

Once we lost the chance to pair him with Love, me and my seven year old sense of humor lost all interest.

Gay, Love, Sessions, Cousins, Johnson

We could had a dynasty.

Fixed

Or we could have signed a guard out of Belgium and ended up with.

Gay Love Cousins Huger Johnson