Rookie extension deadline: seven 2023 picks got paid, and Scoot Henderson leads 14 headed for restricted free agency

The rookie-scale extension window for the 2023 draft class closed at 6 p.m. ET on Monday, and the final count was seven. That is a small number by recent standards. At least nine first-round picks had signed rookie-scale extensions in each of the previous seven offseasons, and the 2023 window produced a record 14. This class ends that run, and it sends a long list of recognizable names into a contract year.

The players who did get paid got paid well. Leaving out Victor Wembanyama’s maximum deal, the other six extensions add up to $978.5 million in new money. The players who did not sign include three top-seven picks: Scoot Henderson, Anthony Black and Bilal Coulibaly.

The seven deals

Player	Team	2023 pick	Extension (starts 2027-28)
Victor Wembanyama	Spurs	No. 1	5 years, max (projected about $255 million)
Brandon Miller	Hornets	No. 2	5 years, $209 million
Amen Thompson	Rockets	No. 4	5 years, $208 million
Keyonte George	Jazz	No. 16	5 years, $157.5 million ($155 million base)
Ausar Thompson	Pistons	No. 5	5 years, $155 million
Cason Wallace	Thunder	No. 10	5 years, $139 million
Brandin Podziemski	Warriors	No. 19	5 years, $110 million

Brandon Miller’s deal came last and came close to the wire. Reports said the Hornets agreement about an hour before the deadline, with agents AJ Vaynerchuk and Joey Middleton putting it at five years and $209 million. That is $1 million more than the $208 million Amen Thompson signed for in Houston, which made the No. 2 pick the highest-paid non-max player in the class. Charlotte had the room to do it: the Hornets carry little long-term guaranteed money, and they went 41-24 with Miller in the lineup last season and 3-14 without him.

Cason Wallace’s five-year, $139 million agreement with Oklahoma City landed Sunday night. The Thunder already pay at the top of the league, so committing that much to a guard who made the All-Defensive Second Team says how much they value him. Keyonte George’s $157.5 million figure in Utah includes $2.5 million in incentives on a $155 million base, and Brandin Podziemski’s $110 million deal in Golden State carries a fifth-year mutual option. All seven contracts start in 2027-28.

Who is headed for restricted free agency

Fourteen eligible 2023 first-rounders reached the deadline without a deal: Anthony Black (Magic), Noah Clowney (Nets), Bilal Coulibaly (Wizards), Gradey Dick (Clippers), Scoot Henderson (Trail Blazers), Taylor Hendricks and Kris Murray (Grizzlies), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Bucks), Dereck Lively II and Marcus Sasser (Mavericks), Brice Sensabaugh (Jazz), Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker (Pacers), and Julian Strawther (Nuggets).

Each of them now plays out the fourth year of his rookie contract. To keep matching rights next summer, a team has to make a qualifying offer between the day after the last game of the Finals and June 29. Once that offer is out, the player can sign an offer sheet anywhere, and his team can match it. A team that skips the qualifying offer lets the player become an unrestricted free agent. Teams and players can also keep negotiating once the season ends, in a window before rival teams can make offers.

History favors the incumbent team. The Orlando Sentinel cited research by a on the 10 first-round classes from 2013 to 2022: 60 players signed new contracts as restricted free agents, and 37 of them, about 62 percent, re-signed with their former team on a new deal. Seven signed the qualifying offer, seven signed offer sheets that moved them to new teams, and nine changed teams through sign-and-trades.

Scoot Henderson: the only top-five pick without a deal

Henderson is the headline. Four of the top five picks in 2023 got extensions, and the No. 3 pick is the exception. Chris Haynes reported Monday afternoon that Portland and Henderson would let the deadline pass. Henderson is in the last year of a rookie contract worth about $44 million in total.

Blazers general manager Joe Cronin had signaled this at media day. He called an extension “tricky” because Henderson is “a high-variance player,” but also called him “a high-priority player” and said, “We still have one more offseason to deal with it if we need to.” The roster makes Henderson’s leverage harder to build. Portland’s backcourt also has Damian Lillard, Ja Morant and Jrue Holiday, and Henderson is expected to play a combo-guard role off the bench under first-year coach Micah Nori. A year ago the Blazers extended Toumani Camara and Shaedon Sharpe at this same deadline.

Anthony Black and Orlando’s 2027-28 books

Black, the No. 6 pick, averaged career highs of 15.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 64 games last season. The money explains why Orlando waited. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Magic already have $161.2 million committed for 2027-28 to Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Desmond Bane. Adding Wendell Carter Jr.’s $19.5 million puts the total above $180 million for five players. Team president Jeff Weltman said in September that extensions “don’t always get done right now. Sometimes they get done later.”

Lively, Jaquez and Coulibaly

Dallas let both of its eligible players reach the deadline unsigned. Dereck Lively II earns $7,239,131 this season and has not been medically cleared after December foot surgery. He has played 98 of a possible 246 regular-season games in three years. There is an awkward detail on the Dallas side: the Mavericks drafted Wallace 10th in 2023 and traded him to Oklahoma City for the rights to Lively, the 12th pick. Wallace signed for $139 million the night before Lively’s deadline passed. Marcus Sasser, acquired in a July six-team trade, earns $5,198,983 in his final rookie-scale season.

In Milwaukee, Jaime Jaquez Jr. was the No. 18 pick and finished second in last season’s Sixth Man of the Year voting with Miami. He arrived in July as part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. General manager Jon Horst said in late September, “We may or may not do an extension, and that’s OK. Just because we don’t doesn’t mean we don’t value them.”

In Washington, Bilal Coulibaly, the No. 7 pick, is valued for his defense, but his shooting and limited offense held down his extension price. He also heads toward restricted free agency.

What it means for next summer

These unsigned players change the 2027 offseason. Instead of a handful of restricted free agents, teams with cap room will be shopping a group that includes a No. 3, a No. 6 and a No. 7 pick, plus a Sixth Man runner-up. For the players, the bet is simple: a strong contract year can bring a bigger number than anything offered this fall. For the teams, waiting keeps 2027-28 money uncommitted for one more year, at the risk that a rival sets the price with an offer sheet.