David Duke Jr. will officially be back with the San Antonio Spurs for the 2024-2025 season, agreeing to a two-way contract.

Free agent guard David Duke Jr. is signing a two-way deal with the San Antonio Spurs, Todd Ramasar and Mike Simonetta of @LifeSportsagncy tell ESPN. Duke has played 49 games with the Spurs and Nets in parts of three NBA seasons. pic.twitter.com/oY7GFNlBOr

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 26, 2024

This will be Duke’s second two-way deal with San Antonio having signed his first one with the team at the end of last year’s regular season, appearing in four games during the final week of the 2023-2024 slate. During those 4 games, Duke averaged 6.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, & 1.3 apg over 12.9 mpg, shooting 55.6% from the floor, 50% from three, and 100% from the line. Between his two seasons with Brooklyn and his 4 games with the Spurs, Duke has now played in 49 games across three seasons in The League.

Duke spent most of last season playing with San Antonio’s G-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs. Over 34 games there, he averaged 19.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, & 4.5 apg over 33.3 mpg, shooting 44.9% from the field, 37.7% from three, and 78.8% from the line. I don’t know what else he has to show in the G-League in order get a legitimate shot in the NBA but with the Spurs having their point guard duties being split between veteran Chris Paul and rookie lottery (and fellow Big East) player Stephon Castle. Over Paul’s last three seasons, he has averaged about 61 games per season. He will be entering his 20th NBA season next year and his age and injury issues are sure to lead to additional ball handlers getting some extra run throughout the season. It appears that the Spurs are going to ease Castle into his point guard duties as he was very rarely the primary ball handler at UConn during his lone season in Storrs, Connecticut.

This will be the last year that Duke will eligible to be signed to a two-way contract as this will be his 4th year of NBA service, making him ineligible after this season.

As always, it’s probably a good idea to spell out exactly what a two-way contract entails in the NBA.

• Teams can have up to two players on two-way contracts at a time, in addition to their 15 standard roster spots.
• Only players who have fewer than four years of experience in the NBA can sign a two-way contract. A “year” doesn’t necessarily mean that a player has to spend a full year in the NBA but if they spend any time in the NBA during a season, that counts as a full “year” of experience.
• Players are limited to two years on a two-way contract with the same team (this will be Duke’s 2nd two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs).
• Players on two-way contracts are eligible to play in 50 of their team’s 82 games.
• When not playing, two-way contract players can still practice, travel, and sit with the team on the bench during games as an inactive member of the team.
• There are no cap implications with two-way contracts.
• Players on two-way contracts are paid a flat rate that is equal to half of the league’s rookie minimum salary, which for 2023-2024 was $559,782 (Minimum Rookie Salary was $1,119,563) and is increasing to $578,577 for 2024-2025 (new Minimum Rookie Salary is $1,157,153). However, these contracts are not guaranteed, so the players can be cut at any point, and will only receive their salary up to that point.
• Once a two-way contract has been converted or waived the team can sign another two-way contract at any point.