NBA contract extension: Alperen Sengun, Jalen Johnson, Jalen Suggs get big deals, plus unprecedented deal

The NBA’s rookie expansion period has come and gone, and seven 2021 first-round picks agreed to minor deals on Monday. These young players are Alperen Sengun, Jalen Johnson, Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs, Trey Murphy, Moses Moody and Corey Kispert, and when you throw in the big contracts that Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, Franz Wagner and Cade Cunningham already have they have them. up to 11 total rookies extended for the 2021 class.

That leaves 19 first-round picks from 2021 still to be signed. The most popular among them? Cam Thomas, who figures to put up a lot of numbers on a rebuilding net team, and Jonathan Kuminga, who couldn’t fit in with the Warriors. Any 2021 first-round pick not re-signed by 6pm on Monday is now slated to become a restricted free agent next summer, but for now, let’s focus on the players who extended.

Jalen Green gets a special deal

Jalen Green is staying in Houston with a three-year, $106 million deal and a player option after the second season, Bill Reiter of CBS Sports has confirmed. When he’s in good shape, Green looks destined to shine. Last season, in a 15-game stretch that began on February 29, he averaged 29.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists and shot 42.2% from deep. Green didn’t command a big contract, though, because his overall numbers aren’t that great. In Green’s last nine games of 2023-24, he averaged 16.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists and shot 27% from deep. Although there were times when it looked like he had improved significantly – most notably in March – his stats ended up looking similar to what he did in 2022-2023, with ts a little defensive action.

Green’s league structure is unprecedented, and it shows the gap between his rise and his production. The Rockets are committed to him, but not in the same way that the Raptors are committed to Barnes or the Pistons are committed to Cunningham. Green is setting himself up to take a shorter contract, but not in the same way that Jonathan Kuminga of the Golden State Warriors — more on him later — reportedly is. If Green can become a more productive player and round out his game, he could put himself in position to earn a big contract after the 2026-27 season. If he doesn’t, Houston will at least have avoided making a long-term investment based on the assumption that he will improve.

Alperen Sengun gets closer to max than anyone else

Getting under the rug: Alperen Sengun will be a Rocket for the long haul as he has agreed to a five-year, $185 million extension, according to ESPN. The deal is surprising given Houston’s proposed plan to use up cap space next summer. Sengun would have had a small cap hit in restricted free agency at $16.2 million. Instead, he will now have a new cap number that reflects his salary, reducing the potential cap space for the Rockets.

Of course, the Rockets decided to give up that cap space was better because Sengun left a lot of money on the table to sign this deal. His net worth was about $40 million more — about $225 million guaranteed — and it was thought that it would have been even bigger if he had made the All-Team. -NBA and got the right to the Rose Rule. Sengun was an All-Star candidate last season and Houston’s offensive engine. The Rockets ultimately decided that getting him at a discount made more sense than waiting for cap space, and paying him close to market value next summer.

Jalen Johnson will be the building block in Atlanta

Like Sengun, Jalen Johnson was a candidate for Most Improved Player last season, but ended up getting a bit of a cut in this deal. As previously reported by Chris Haynes, Johnson receives $150 million from the Hawks over five years. An agreement represents a compromise on both sides. Johnson will have a chance to put up big numbers against Hawks tackle Dejounte Murray this season. It is now the clear No. 1 choice. 2 on offense, and with time off, he would have commanded a lot of money next summer.

By locking him up now, the Hawks ensure they won’t have to pay him that much. Johnson, however, gets a little insurance. He dealt with injuries last year, appearing in just 56 games, and was not a full-time starter before that. If he had gone down in his fourth season, he would have lost a lot of money. Both sides settled on a $150 million settlement.

Murphy gets his money

Murphy has agreed to a four-year, $112 million contract extension with the Pelicans, his representatives told Marc Stein of The Stein Line on Monday. There are no options in the deal, according to ESPN.

Last season, Murphy got off to a slow start while recovering from a knee injury, but averaged 18.1 points (on 66.1% true shooting!), 6.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 33.9 minutes a game. his last 24. Murphy has made 41.7% of his 3-point attempts during that span with 8.8 attempts per game.

If Murphy builds on it, this contract will be a huge home for the Pelicans. He’s a 6-foot-8 player with a sky-high release who shoots deep 3s with ease, and there aren’t many players in the world who fit that description. Going forward, though, the question is if — and when — New Orleans can reasonably expect its usage and minutes to increase.

Murphy was the sixth man for the Pelicans when they were healthy last season, and he seems poised to earn a major role, but, after the summer they traded for you for Dejounte Murray and they didn’t trade Brandon Ingram, there’s no need for space. to spread his wings. Murphy had a usage rate of 18.2% last year.

Murphy is expected to miss the start of 2024-25 due to a hamstring strain suffered in training camp.

“Obviously, starting the season again hurts me a lot, Murphy told reporters earlier this month. “And trying to do everything I can, summer-wise, get ready for the season, then having something like that is really absorbing. But I’m just looking at it the right way. It could be worse. Good thing it’s NBA season – I’ll be there for most of it. “

Suggestions are always available

Jalen Suggs is staying with the Magic for a whopping $150.5 million over five years, according to ESPN. Recommendations, option No. 4 in the 2021 draft, had a breakout season for Orlando last year. His defense was his selling point since he arrived in the NBA, but last year, the offense finally took a significant step to match it. Although Suggs is not a dominant shooter, he has made a career-best 39.7% of his 3-pointers on a career-high 5.1 attempts per game.

Ideally, Suggs would play a major role in catching the ball at times. Even if he doesn’t, that shot is enough to warrant something like this. If nothing else, Suggs was probably the best 3-D player in basketball last season. He was a Second Team All-Defensive selection who hit nearly 40% of his threes, and in a league that still emphasizes those two skills more than most, he’s a very valuable player. .

Orlando has now been shut down for a long time. Now they have added Suggs, Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr. and Jonathan Isaac to make strong additions this season. They added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency, and a long-term deal for Paolo Banchero will also come next summer. The Magic have closed their little back, and they will only increase it from here.

The Warriors add Moody, they will not extend Kuminga

Moody, 22, is sticking with the Golden State on a three-year, $39 million extension, his agent told ESPN. This is a team-friendly deal — it starts below the middle exception — but it’s not hard to understand why it appealed to Moody. In the first three years of his career, he was productive in his minutes, but never cemented his place as an every night player under coach Steve Kerr. This season, when Golden State is as deep as it’s ever been, the situation could be the same. Early on, though, Moody was impressive. He seems to have gotten stronger and, more importantly, he’s landed the shots better.

“He’s playing well,” Kerr told reporters last week, after a win against the Los Angeles Lakers in which Moody scored 21 points in 19 minutes on 7-for-14 shooting. “He’s improved a lot in a lot of ways. We’ve always liked his personality, his way of working, but I think this is the biggest confidence I think he’s playing with. And he’s going to play a big role for us, but so do a lot of other guys. We sit in that coaching room every day and say, ‘How do we play all these guys?’ Because they all deserve to play.”

There is still time, in theory, for the Warriors to reach an agreement with Kuminga. According to ESPN and The Athletic, however, it won’t happen. Golden State had offered him a contract of about 30 billion a year, according to The Athletic, but they were not willing to go beyond that, so Kuminga decided to gamble on being a star.

Kuminga, who is also 22 years old, was selected No. 7 overall, seven spots ahead of Moody, in the 2021 draft. He had some nice moments last season, but has yet to prove to Golden State’s coaching staff that he can play the 3 spot. and big splits on the ground in the front yard. This makes him a cheat next to Draymond Green, unless Green is a playmaking center. Kerr’s schedule for opening night remains a mystery.

Washington still has its designer

Corey Kispert, Suggs’ teammate at Gonzaga, received a new deal with the Wizards for $54 million over four years according to Marc Stein. Kispert earned his keep as one of the NBA’s best shooters over the past few years, making 38.8% of his attempts since joining the Wizards in 2021. Washington is in the middle of a rebuild strong at the time, and that has cost them several valuable fighters. this season including Deni Avdija and Tyus Jones. That puts Kispert in a position to pile up the numbers for the Wizards this season, and now they’ve locked him up without risking any strong needs following a potential campaign.