Why a two way contract doesn't make sense for some players...
But it’s not the perfect solution it may seem
For one, it’s still less than many players could make overseas.
But the other reason agents are wary of two-way contracts is that it restricts the player’s freedom of movement. Players who once could be called up by 30 different NBA teams now are linked exclusively with just one — and on a limited basis, at that.
Sure, there are technically 60 more players in the NBA. But it will only be at a specific team’s discretion, with no lateral movement until the contract is up. Before, the G-League’s most convincing selling point was how easily any player could be called up for a 10-day tryout. That goes away for players who sign two-way contracts.
“There’s good and there’s bad,” one agent who recently had a client sign a two-way contract told me. “On one hand, when teams are looking to make call-ups, you’re locked into the one team. But on the other, if the team really likes you, you have to do anything you can to get your foot in the door.”
It’s no surprise that the G-League loves the new structure
For those in the G-League, the two-way contract is an excellent new tool that should result in a talent influx, at least in some manner.
“It cements in place the opportunity to have guys in a development situation where they really are connected to the NBA organization and affiliate organization,” Kent Lacob, general manager of the Santa Cruz Warriors, told me. “It really provides more synergy and opportunity for guys to be integrated into both. I think that aids in the development of not just improving as a player, but specifically catered to the system, and the culture, and the team that they’re with.”
Likewise, Rio Grande Valley Vipers head coach Matt Brase told me he sees the two-way contract as an “awesome” new addition.
“The biggest thing is the league gets better,” Brase said. “I just think it’s good that we’re getting people toward the baseball minor league system where you’re bringing guys up the way you want to bring them up. I think that’s important, too, for players to have some stability. If you’re in a certain situation and learning that system, and you get a chance at the NBA level, you're comfortable.”
Brase brought up Gary Payton II, who played for the Vipers last year, as a player who could have been retained on a two-way deal had he signed with the Rockets organization this summer instead of the last one.
“We (would have been able) to keep him in the system,” Brase said. “Gary is a great system fit for us, the way he played.”
But Payton’s situation actually underscores some agents’ fears
Since Payton wasn’t protected by the Rockets, he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in early April. He played six games with them, making $35,166, plus playoff bonuses. He remains under contract with the Bucks, albeit with a non-guaranteed deal.
However, if Payton can make the team next season, he’s in line to receive more than $1.3 million. (His contract will fully guarantee on Jan. 10, and Milwaukee has an open roster spot as of July 18.) Without his late-season addition to Milwaukee, the team may not have brought him back this year or handed him the starting point guard keys in Summer League.
That addition was only possible because Payton had autonomy to sign with any team rather than being tied into the Rockets.
“If your goal is to play in the G-League and you want to have the freedom of movement, then yeah, maybe it does make sense to have freedom of movement in signing instead,” Lacob said.
One agent suggested to me that the top G-League players — those who make the G-League All-Star team and those who have been considered “call-up candidates” on a year-round basis — won’t sign two-way deals. Among the two-way deals signed or reported so far, that seems accurate. Only one player listed on the G-League’s “Top-25 Prospect Watch” from last season has signed a two-way deal (Josh Magette at No. 19).
