After another compressed offseason, NBA teams are reporting to training camp for the start of the 2021-22 season. To put into perspective how little time off teams have had: This season’s camps start less than a full year after the beginning of the 2020 NBA Finals — with an entire additional offseason, regular season and postseason taking place in between.
With training camps starting, here are complete roster breakdowns for all 30 NBA teams, along with the top storylines, decisions and questions to watch over the next few weeks before the 2021-22 season tips off with the Milwaukee Bucks raising their championship banner on Oct. 19.
Plus, at the bottom of this piece, we include an explanation about how two-way and Exhibit 10 contracts will work this season.
Note: Any players on a non-guaranteed contract will begin to incur a per-day cap hit if not waived by 5 p.m. ET. on Oct. 16.
Depth chart key: 2 (Two-way) | N (Non-guaranteed) | E (Exhibit 10) | I (Injured) | P (Partial)
What to watch: Rookie extension for Kevin Huerter
The Hawks started their offseason by removing head coach Nate McMillan’s “interim” tag, handing McMillan the job on a full-time basis. That was followed by signing Trae Young to a five-year, $172 million rookie max extension, committing $100 million to John Collins and giving starting center Clint Capela a $46 million extension. In total, the Hawks doled out over $300 million in new money and have three of their five starters under contract through at least the 2024-25 season. Now the attention turns to former first-round pick Kevin Huerter. The guard is the perfect complement to Young, and is coming off a third consecutive season shooting north of 36% from 3-point range. He can sign an extension until 6 p.m. ET on Oct. 18. He should see a salary in the range of the four-year, $56 million deal that Luke Kennard signed with the Clippers last December — at the minimum.
Hawks’ projected preseason depth chart
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. Young | K. Huerter | B. Bogdanovic | J. Collins | C. Capela |
| L. Williams | C. Reddish | D. Hunter | D. Gallinari | G. Dieng |
| D. Wright | S. Hill | T. Luwawu-CabarrotN | J. Johnson | J. OkaforN |
| S. Cooper2 | A. LawsonE | O. OkongwuI | ||
| S. Mays2 | J. HamiltonE |
October dates
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Oct. 18: The last day for Kevin Huerter to sign an extension.
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Oct. 31: The last day to exercise the third-year team option of Onyeka Okongwu and fourth-year team options of Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter.
What to watch: The bench
The X factor for the Celtics heading into last season was the young bench of former first-round picks. While there were positives with Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams and Aaron Nesmith, head of basketball operations Brad Stevens made it a priority to rebuild the second unit with veterans. Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson and Enes Kanter have started a combined 795 regular-season games, and give new head coach Ime Udoka an insurance policy in the form of experienced players who can start in case of an injury or help anchor the bench.
Celtics’ projected preseason depth chart
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. Smart | J. Brown | J. Tatum | A. Horford | R. Williams |
| D. Schroder | A. Nesmith | J. Richardson | G. Williams | E. Kanter |
| P. Pritchard | S. Hauser2 | R. Langford | J. ParkerP | B. Fernando |
| T. PinsonE | G. MatthewsN | J. Hernangomez | ||
| R. ArcidiaconoN | J. MorganE |
October dates
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Oct. 18: The last day for Al Horford to sign an extension.
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Oct. 19: Jabari Parker’s contract increases from $100K to $1.1M in protection.
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Oct. 31: The last day to exercise the third-year team options of Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith, and fourth-year team options of Romeo Langford and Grant Williams.
What to watch: The extensions of James Harden and Kyrie Irving
A week before training camp, GM Sean Marks talked about the futures of Harden and Irving.