There’s no day better than payday. On the brink of the 2024-25 season, the league’s annual deadline for rookie extensions came to pass with some absolutely ridiculous money thrown around to players casual basketball may not have ever heard of.
In total, seven players signed contracts for just short of a combined $800 million. It’s good to be young in this era of the NBA with that new TV deal money pumping through the sport.
The NBA salary cap for the 2024-2025 season is set at $140.588 million. The luxury tax starts at $178.132 million, and the dreaded second apron with all of its hyper-punitive machinations starts at $188.931 million. The cap is expected to jump about 10 percent every year, but we don’t know that for sure yet. Teams can go over the salary cap to sign their own players, but not to sign new players in free agency. It’s important to look at these days through the lens of a rising salary cap.
It felt like teams held all the leverage over players this year because almost no one has available cap space in the summer of 2025. Only the Brooklyn Nets are projected to have max cap space next summer after this round of deals, with the Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs as the only other teams with real cap space, according to analyst Keith Smith.
Despite the conditions of next summer, seven young players coming off their standard four-year rookie contracts hit the jackpot on Monday. Let’s grade each extension from both the player’s perspective and the team’s side.
Jalen Green, Rockets agree to three-year, $106 million deal
Green was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, but has struggled to live up to the hype thus far. He’s mostly been an inefficient volume scorer to this point in his career who showed some poor habits under former coach Stephen Silas. Things finally clicked for Green in the second half of his third season after teammate Alperen Sengun went down with injury. Green was absolutely electric in March of last year, averaging 27.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game on 49.2 percent shooting from the field and 40.8 percent shooting from three-point range on 9.5 attempts per game from downtown.
Those numbers are way better than Green’s career averages, and they didn’t sustain once Sengun returned. March is historically a month when NBA teams kinda-sorta mail it in ahead of the playoffs. The Rockets were still motivated to get a deal done for several reasons: Green still has plenty of long-term potential, and he’s exactly the type of player a team might try to create cap space to sign next summer. He turns 23 years old in Feb.
This is a unique deal where Green gets a player option on the third season. It’s a tremendous agreement for Green, where he locks in his money and can still opt out of the contract after two years to potentially get an even bigger payday. I don’t like it as much from the Rockets’ perspective. Houston has so many intriguing young players, and I wouldn’t put Green near the top of that list due to his lack of all-around contributions and general inefficiency. This deal is a slam dunk for Green, but I don’t love it for Houston. At the same time, the Rockets will be able to trade him if need be due to the length of this deal.
Rockets grade: C-
Player grade: A+
Rockets, Alperen Sengun agree to five-year, $185 million extension
Sengun fully emerged as the Rockets’ leading man last season, averaging 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and five assists per game as a 21-year-old. The 6’10 center is something of a poor man’s Nikola Jokic: he lacks elite high level athleticism and isn’t known for his defense inside, but he’s so crafty as a scorer and passer that you can legitimately run an offense through him at the high post.
There will always be questions about if you can win deep in the playoffs with a shaky defensive center. At the same time, Sengun’s box score production is so outstanding that it felt likely he’d get a max contract. This deal is almost $40 million less than Sengun’s max. Given the huge leap in wins Houston made last season — from 22 wins to 41 wins in their first season under head coach Ime Udoka — Sengun’s style of play showed it can lead to winning basketball.
It feels like Sengun could have held out for more money, but of course locking in $185 million must feel nice. If he suffered a major injury this season, this money might never have been on the table again. The fact that Houston got him to sign for this is a great piece of business.
Rockets grade: A
Player grade: B
Jalen Johnson, Hawks agree to five-year, $150 million deal
Johnson was a highly touted high school prospect who slipped to the No. 20 pick in the draft after a poor year at Duke. I always believed in his talent, and he broke out in a big way last year in his third season. Johnson looked like the Hawks’ second best player by averaging 16 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. He shot 51.1 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent from three on low-ish volume (3.6 attempts per game).
At 6’8, 220 pounds, Johnson is an elite athlete who makes plays above the rim on both ends of the floor. He’s a terror in transition, and has a knack for getting himself out on the break with blocks, steals, or go-and-go rebounds. This is exactly the type of player you want around Trae Young. It’s a bit scary that Johnson’s first two years were total busts, so he’s signing this deal off the strength of a 56-game season where he battled injuries last year. For someone who turns 23 years old in Dec., he still has tons of upside and is a great fit for Atlanta’s long-term vision. This is a great deal for both sides.
Hawks grade: A
Player grade: A
Pelicans, Trey Murphy III agreed to a four-year, $112 million extension
Murphy has been caught in the Pelicans’ stuffed depth chart to start his career, but there’s no questioning both his talent and his long-term fit with the organization. Stuck behind Brandon Ingram (who New Orleans spent all summer trying to trade) and lockdown defender Herb Jones, Murphy is a dead-eye shooter with impressive athleticism whose skill set pairs nicely with Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson.
At 6’8, Murphy has one of the purest shooting strokes in the league. He’s connected on 39.2 percent of his threes on 5.7 attempts per game for his career, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see those numbers continue to rise. Murphy is solid enough defensively. A trio of Jones-Murphy-Williamson looks like an awesome on paper for the Pelicans. Murphy hasn’t been super durable to this point: he played only 57 games last year, and is already out to start the season with a hamstring injury. This feels like a fair deal for both sides, but I believe it will be a team-friendly contract over time. Murphy has the talent to out-play this contract pretty easily.
Pelicans grade: A
Player grade: B+
Jalen Suggs, Magic agree to $150.5 million over five years
Suggs might be the best young defensive guard in the NBA. The former No. 5 overall pick blossomed in his third season with the Magic last year, earning Second-Team All-Defense honors as Orlando made a huge jump up the standings. The Magic will be led by Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner moving forward, but they saw Suggs as a key third piece to keep around.
This is just a lot of money for a guard who isn’t great offensively. Suggs still has shaky ball handling ability, and isn’t a natural lead creator off the dribble. His jump shoot vastly improved last season, going from a 32 percent three-point shooter to a 39 percent one on good volume (5.1 attempts per game). This struck me as a C+/B- deal for Orlando at first, but I’m kind of talking myself into it. Ultimately, I think the Magic may need a more dynamic lead guard to help them take the next step, but this team has won with defense to this point, and Suggs’ defense is elite. There is no doubt this is a massive win for Suggs personally after he was nothing special in the league for first two years.
Magic grade: B
Player grade: A+
Warriors, Moses Moody agree to three-year, $39 million
Steve Kerr has kept Moody stapled to the bench for most of his first three years in the NBA, which is why this extension feels a little curious. The conspiracy theorist in me wants to say the Warriors kept Moody’s playing time down so they could sign him to a cheap extension before fully unleashing him this season. That probably isn’t true, but this can still be a very team-friendly deal for Golden State if Moody develops the way I always thought he could.
Moody is a long-armed defender who lacks elite athleticism but is pretty well rounded across the board. He’s a career 36 percent three-point shooter who has some craft as a one-on-one scorer. Is this the year Kerr finally plays him? The Warriors added quite a bit of depth over the offseason to replace Klay Thompson, so I’m not entirely convinced. Still, I have always believed in Moody, so I think there’s some real upside for Golden State here. From Moody’s respective, locking in life-changing money at $39 million is pretty nice given that he hasn’t done much in the league yet.
Warriors grade: A
Player grade: B+
Corey Kispert, Wizards agree to $54 million deal over four years
Kispert is an elite shooter. Drafting at No. 15 overall after four years at Gonzaga, the 6’6 wing turns 26 years old in March, and doesn’t have quite as much upside as his peers on this list. That’s okay: he’s a career 38.8 percent shooting on good volume, and keeps looking more comfortable in Washington. Every team needs a knockdown floor spacer like this, but Kispert is so limited athletically and so poor defensively that it’s a wise move for him to lock in his money now. This is a straight shooting specialist, so $54 million feels like a good deal for both sides.
Wizards grade: A
Player grade: A
