#two-way-contracts

#two-way-contracts

The approval of requests from three former G League players -- Thierry Darlan (Santa Clara), London Johnson (Louisville) and Abdullah Ahmed (BYU) -- turned heads early in the season. Then the stakes were raised when the NCAA granted eligibility to former NBA draft pick James Nnaji (Baylor) in late December, drawing louder criticism from legendary coaches such as Tom Izzo and John Calipari and forcing the NCAA to release a statement that it "has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract (including a two-way contract)."

To be eligible, a player cannot earn more than $3 million this season, be signed to a first- or second-round exception (sorry, Cooper Flagg and Victor Wembanyama), or have more than six years of NBA experience. Milwaukee Bucks guard AJ Green, who went from an undrafted free agent in 2022 to full-time starter this season, is ineligible despite his salary below $3 million; he signed a four-year, $45 million extension in October.

The Nets recently waived Tosan Evbuomwan, a two-way forward who showed promise in limited playing time last season. After playing for the Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies as an undrafted rookie, the Newcastle, England native joined Brooklyn in January. The decision to waive Tosan Evbuomwan was unexpected. Despite appearing in only 28 games last season, he performed admirably when given the opportunity, averaging 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 23.8 minutes per game, demonstrating toughness and versatility on both ends of the court.

I mean, expressions of interest continue to give them audiences with us, pitch us on the merits and why we should be considering. We haven't said no to anybody. And there are multiple entities within multiple markets that are talking to us. None has gotten to the level of having a full proposal that we think is worthy of sharing with the Board of Governors or the executive committee. One of those could happen in the future.