The Bucks, Lakersand Grizzlies According to Jake Fisher of The Stein Line and Bleacher Report (Link to Twitter).
Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Memphis are the only three NBA teams that currently have more than 15 players under fully guaranteed contracts. They have until Monday, the day before the regular season ends, to take the necessary steps to reduce their roster to 15 players on standard deals.
However, the Bucks actually have 17 players on standard contracts Pete NanceThe minimum salary isn’t guaranteed, making him one of two likely odd men in Milwaukee.
Veteran swingman Karis Levert is another player to keep an eye on for the Bucks as he has an expiring $14.8 million contract and was acquired in a deal that also netted the club a second-round pick (in other words, he wasn’t the main target of the deal). LeVert struggled through three preseason games for Milwaukee, scoring just three points on 1-of-7 shooting in 37 minutes with seven turnovers.
2024 first round pick Dalton Knecht is considered the most likely candidate to be released by the Lakers if they do not make a trade before the start of the season. He fell out of the rotation in his second NBA season and was ineffective in three preseason contests, scoring 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting and six turnovers in 40 minutes of action.
The Lakers have reportedly investigated the possibility of doing a consolidation transaction to clean up your list. In such a scenario, Knecht Jaden Hardyand Jared Vanderbilt likely to be among the team’s top trade candidates.
As for the Grizzlies, they have 16 players with fully guaranteed salaries, the 17th player Jaylen Wells – is on track for the standard roster despite not having a guaranteed deal, meaning the team will have to trade or waive two players in the coming days. Off-season shopping Chris Murray and Micah Peavy were seen as possible odd men out if Memphis doesn’t make a trade.
As Fisher and Mark Stein (Link to Twitter) indicate, on Hornets and Mavericks the other two clubs deserve scrutiny as they will each have to part with a player with a guaranteed contract to keep the leaders in the dressing room Pat Connaughton and Dwight Powellrespectively.
While Connaughton’s minimum salary isn’t completely guaranteed, the veteran guard is “Mog Knueppel the favorite,” Stein notes, and he’s well-liked in Charlotte. However, there are no other obvious release candidates on the Hornets’ roster.
Powell, meanwhile, has a partial guarantee of $1 million that will increase to $1.5 million on opening night and has been with the Mavs since 2014, but keeping him could require the team to part with a promising young player like Moussa Cisseor someone with multiple guaranteed contract years, for example Caleb Martin.
