With a looming lunchtime deadline, the front offices were tasked with securing contracts for their twelve roster spots. Alert after alert came from ASPN news, creating frantic bids and sweaty palms underscored by the tick, tick, tick, of the clock. While some breezed through their roster, paying all 12 athletes and staying underneath the salary cap- others had to employ their calculators and do some extra finagling to obtain the players they wanted. Following the finalization of their rosters, the general managers then turned into marketers and began to craft an identity for their team, placing each organization into a city and naming it.
DEREK: New York Nightcrawlers, New York City, New York
Final Roster: Giannis Antetokounmpo – $48.5 million (bird rights), Damian Lillard – $38 million, Brandon Ingram – $33.5 million, Bam Adebayo – $30.5 million, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – $25 million, Dejounte Murray – $22.5 million, Jusuf Nurkic – $9 million, Desmond Bane – $10 million, Grant Williams – $9 million (minimum level exception), Herbert Jones – $6.5 million, Alperen Sengun – $4 million, Austin Reaves – $3 million (minimum level exception)
SCOTT: Boston Blaze, Boston, Massachusetts
Final Roster: Joel Embiid – $45 million (bird rights), RJ Barrett – $17 million, DeMar DeRozan – $28 million, Kyle Lowry – $22 million, Kyrie Irving – $35,328,700 million, De’Aaron Fox – $35 million, Kevin Huerter – $5.5 million, Josh Giddey – $6 million, De’Andre Hunter – $7,775,440 million, Christian Wood – $13,666,667 million, Obi Toppin – $5,125,000 million, Isaiah Todd – $1.25 million (minimum level exception)
“Today I was able to finalize all depth charts and rosters and am working towards developing our fanbase in Boston. I am very happy with how deals turned out especially being able to pick up DeRozan and Lowry. I think our team will be a strong contender for a championship with excellent depth as well as good chemistry between several members of our team.”
WILLIAM: Honolulu Riptide, Honolulu, Hawaii
Final Roster: Nikola Jokic – $45 million (bird rights), Donovan Mitchell – $32 million, Khris Middleton – $30 million, Paul George – $38.5 million, Ben Simmons – $25 million, Kevin Porter Jr. – $5 million, Donte DiVincenzo – $5 million, Sadiq Bey – $11 million, Wendell Carter Jr. – $7.5 million, Jonas Valanciunas – $14 million, John Wall – $7 million, Bobby Portis Jr. – $5 million
“Today we finished signing the contracts for our team. After a few counter offers I got everybody that I wanted other than Tyrese Maxey, which I was really happy with. Afterwards we made the team names and cities. I made the Honolulu riptide because I thought Hawaii needed a sports team.”
KESHAWN: Diverse, Los Angeles, California
Final Roster: Kevin Durant – $45 million (bird rights), Andrew Wiggins – $28 million, Steven Adams – $18 million, Sharife Cooper – $1 million (minimum level exception), Jalen Johnson – $2 million (minimum level exception), Kristaps Porzingis – $25 million, Jarrett Allen – $19 million, Boban Marjanovic – $2.5 million, Patrick Beverley – $15 million, Trae Young – $37 million, Jordan Poole- $7.5 million, Tobias Harris – $26 million
“Today was full of hard bargains trying to pay my players the amount of money they wanted to be paid while at the same time staying within the boundaries of 180 million dollar salary cap- which was harder than it seems. The Min level exceptions and the Bird Rights were a big help because they didn’t go towards my salary, the only bad thing was I didn’t know this until halfway through my negotiations. After finding that out, the negotiations were way easier and I was able to sign everyone on my original team with the exception of Jordan Clarkson who I traded for Jordan Poole.”
THOMAS: Chicago Cosmos, Chicago, Illinois
Final Roster: Steph Curry – $48 million (bird rights), Collin Sexton – $20 million, Zion Williamson – $30 million, Anthony Davis – $35 million, Jimmy Butler – $42 million, Miles Bridges – $12 million, Andre Drummond – $2 million, Immanuel Quickley – $3 million, Jakob Poeltl – $8 million, Cedi Osman – $6 million, Jeff Green – $4 million, Spencer Dinwiddie – $18 million
“Today I felt very good about my final roster. I have a good balance between offensive and defensive players and a decent bench as well. I chose Chicago as my city and my team name is the Chicago Cosmos.”
CHRIS: Pittsburgh Bandits, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Final Roster: LeBron James – $45 million (bird rights), LaMelo Ball – $25 million, Bradley Beal – $35 million, Kelly Oubre Jr. – $12 million, Gary Trent Jr. – $16 million, Draymond Green – $ 24,026,712 million, Ayo Dosunmu – $2 million, Marvin Bagley III – $11 million, Joe Harris – $19 million, Kyle Kuzma – $18 million, Kelly Olynyk – $13,973,288 million, Tristan Thompson – $3.5 million
“Today we finalized contracts, made a depth chart, and gave our team an identity. I thankfully got through my contracts pretty easily due to some decent money managing, so I was able to sign the players I wanted while staying under the salary cap. On the depth chart, I named my starting 5 and my bench players, along with the stats I predicted each player to have throughout the season. Finally, I chose my team to be named the Pittsburgh Bandits. Overall, I am very satisfied with how my team came out.”
CHANCE: Miami Maniacs, Miami, Florida
Final Roster: Jayson Tatum – $39 million (bird rights), Darius Garland – $32 million, Devin Booker – $30.5 million, Damontas Sabonis – $20 million, Deandre Ayton – $17 million, D’Angelo Russell – $29 million, DeVonte’ Graham – $12 million, Jalen Green- $11 million, Myles Turner – $16 million, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – $12 million, Onyeka Okongwu – $7 million, Aleksej Pokusevski – $2.5 million
“Today my day was filled with a struggle of giving all my players the amount of money they deserved and wanted. It was pretty difficult to manage my money, but eventually, I got everyone the right amount and successfully stayed under budget, and didn’t have to release any players- so I was successful. Then we chose cities to use and I chose Miami because Miami is cool and finally chose my name to be the Miami Maniacs.”
CONNOR: Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Final Roster: Luka Doncic – $44 million (bird rights), Pascal Siakam – $33.1 million, Jaylen Brown – $28.5 million, Fred VanVleet – $25 million, Julius Randle – $21 million, Lauri Markkanen – $15.7 million, Dillon Brooks – $12.2 million, Tyrese Haliburton- $10 million, PJ Tucker – $7 million, Dennis Schroder – $7 million, Killian Hayes – $5.6 million, Quentin Grimes – $3 million
“Today I worked on finalizing the roster for my team. This was pretty easy because I had a well rounded team with good players at every position. After this I branded my team as the Philadelphia Cheesesteaks.”
NOAHWAL: Atlanta Assassins, Atlanta, Georgia
Final Roster: Rudy Gobert – $38 million (bird rights), John Collins – $25 million, Mikal Bridges – $15 million, Zach LaVine – $21 million, Marcus Smart – $25 million, Brook Lopez – $17 million, Coby White – $7 million, Buddy Hield- $24 million, Caris LeVert – $18 million, Derrick Rose – $17 million, Tyrese Maxey – $15 million, Naz Ried – $1 million (minimum level exception)
“My team the Assassins is located in Atlanta with a large fan base of stars like Lil Baby, Future, and Gunna that have season tickets. All these rappers were raised in Georgia, a little outside of the Atlanta city lines. My team is filled with the best defensive players of the year, we are going all the way this season. Go Assassins.”
RUSHABH: Carolina Chaos, Charlotte, North Carolina
Final Roster: Karl Anthony-Towns – $32 million (bird rights), Jrue Holiday – $32 million, Anthony Edwards – $23 million, Trey Murphy III – $3 million, Jaren Jackson Jr. – $15 million, Gordon Hayward – $25 million, Clint Capela – $20 million, Seth Curry- $12 million, Juan Toscano-Anderson – $2 million, Ricky Rubio – $18 million, Ja Morant – $30 million, Victor Oladipo – $7 million (minimum level exception)
“Today I gave all my players a salary. I liked how there was a max amount of money because it made me think about how much to give each player. I also made a basketball team in Charlotte called the Carolina Chaos.”
