Title: Murphy: What Lorenzo Brown highlights about year one of the NBA’s new two-way deals
Date: July 31, 2018
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I reflected on the first year of two-way contracts in the NBA, using Lorenzo Brown as an example to work through the decision process the new contract type introduced.
When the Toronto Raptors signed Lorenzo Brown to a partially guaranteed one-year contract earlier this month, it served two purposes. It represented a well-deserved step forward to a consistent NBA foothold for Brown. It also stood to the answer one of the more interesting questions of the 2017 NBA offseason: How would two-way contracts work?
With a new collective bargaining agreement came the introduction of two-way contracts, which would allow NBA teams the chance to better develop players in their G League systems. They could do it without the risk of losing that player to a call-up from another team, while also allowing them to gain NBA experience. From the team side, it’s a clear win — two additional roster spots to take chances on high-upside fliers or to continue developing players who weren’t quite ready or didn’t quite have a path to NBA playing time. In the case of the Raptors, they used those two slots as additional NBA depth to cobble together a de facto 15th man to help duck the luxury tax.
For players, the benefit was obvious: 60 more roster spots are 60 more roster spots. Players who otherwise would have been playing on a paltry G League salary (maybe with a $50,000 bonus from an Exhibit 10 contract that would still have them earning five figures in total), the chance to earn up to an estimated $370,900 if NBA days were maximized was attractive.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 