Former Two-Way Players Among the NBA’s Top 100

From Two-Way Contracts to Top-100 NBA Seasons

Written by Logan Dykhouse

Two-way contracts are designed for development, but the best players eventually grow beyond the label. Finn Kuehl, the creator of Two-Way Talents, included four players who previously signed two-way contracts in his Top 100 Players of the 2026 NBA Season: Austin Reaves, Ryan Rollins, Ajay Mitchell and Naz Reid. 

Kuehl, who owns and runs Bench Mob Blog, published his Top 100 Players of the 2026 NBA Season ranking there. The list is based solely on 2025-26 performance, making the group an interesting snapshot of how far a player can climb after entering the league on a two-way contract. Their paths were not identical. Two were converted almost immediately, one spent meaningful time developing on the contract and another used it as the first step of a rapid rise with a contender. 

For Two-Way Talents, that difference matters. Sometimes the contract lasts only long enough for a team to realize it has found something. Other times, the developmental runway is exactly what allows a player to stick.

Austin Reaves — No. 44

Austin Reaves barely had time to become a two-way player. The Lakers signed the undrafted Oklahoma guard to a two-way deal in August 2021, then converted him to a standard contract before the regular season began. He never played an NBA regular-season game under the designation.

As a rookie, Reaves appeared in 61 games and averaged 7.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 23.2 minutes per game. He quickly became a reliable rotation player for the Lakers, starting 19 games and shooting 31.7 percent from three-point range.

Since that rookie season, Reaves has produced the best scoring year of his career. He averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds across 51 games, including a 51-point performance in October. His 23.3 points per game were the highest scoring average by an undrafted NBA player since Moses Malone in 1985-86.

Kuehl wrote that Reaves looked like a “genuine All-Star” early in the season after averaging 32.0 points and 9.0 assists in October and 26.9 points and 5.5 assists in November. His postseason was shakier, with his efficiency falling while he dealt with an oblique strain, which helped keep him at No. 44 rather than pushing him even higher. Still, a former two-way player now sits comfortably in the Top 50 and has re-signed with Los Angeles on a four-year deal.

Ryan Rollins — No. 71

Ryan Rollins took the longest traditional two-way path of the four, while also dealing with significant injuries along the way. A second-round pick in 2022, he struggled to establish himself during short stops with Golden State and Washington, totaling only 128 NBA minutes across 22 appearances in his first two seasons. He missed time with a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot and later underwent surgery to repair a Jones fracture in that same foot. Milwaukee gave him another opening by signing him to a two-way contract in February 2024. 

Rollins remained on the deal into 2024-25, appearing in 39 games and making eight starts before the Bucks converted him to a standard contract in March 2025. At the time of the conversion, he was averaging only 4.9 points in 12.5 minutes per game. The larger opportunity came afterward.

One season later, Rollins averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals across 74 games, repeatedly accepting more responsibility when Milwaukee needed it. That included a then-career-high 32 points against Golden State without Giannis Antetokounmpo early in the season. Kuehl described his year as an “improbable rise from scrap heap pickup to franchise cornerstone,” ranking him No. 71 after he entered the season outside the Top 100 entirely. Rollins is the clearest example here of a two-way contract providing real developmental runway, rather than simply serving as a temporary roster designation.

Ajay Mitchell — No. 87

Ajay Mitchell’s rise happened much faster than Rollins'. Oklahoma City selected him 38th overall in 2024 and immediately signed him to a two-way contract. He averaged 6.5 points in 36 games as a rookie before being converted to a standard deal during the season, then appeared in the Thunder’s championship run, primarily in limited minutes. 

The next year changed his standing completely. Mitchell more than doubled his scoring average to 13.6 points, adding 3.6 assists and 3.3 rebounds while starting 16 games for a 64-win Oklahoma City team. His biggest jump came in the playoffs.

With Jalen Williams unavailable, Mitchell averaged 22.5 points and 6.0 assists in the Thunder’s second-round sweep of the Lakers. He posted 24 points and 10 assists without a turnover in Game 3, then scored 28 in the clincher. Kuehl pointed to that series as the peak of Mitchell’s breakout and ranked him No. 87, only two seasons after he entered the league as a second-round pick on a two-way deal.

Naz Reid — No. 89

Naz Reid’s two-way tenure was the shortest of the group. After going undrafted in 2019, he signed a two-way contract with Minnesota on July 5. Twelve days later, the Timberwolves replaced it with a standard multi-year deal. Like Reaves, Reid had already outgrown the designation before his first NBA regular-season appearance.

The development that followed took years rather than weeks. Reid became the 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year and remained one of Minnesota’s most dependable frontcourt scorers through his final season with the franchise before being traded to Charlotte this summer.

In 2025-26, he averaged 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists and finished fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting. Kuehl ranked him No. 89 while highlighting his ability to swing games as both a shooter and slasher. Reid backed that up in Minnesota’s second-round series against San Antonio, averaging 14.3 points and 7.7 rebounds on 50.8% shooting. Seven years after beginning as an undrafted two-way signing, he had become a proven playoff rotation piece and one of the league’s most established reserves.

Four Different Versions of Two-Way Success

Reaves and Reid were upgraded before they ever played a regular-season NBA game on a two-way contract. Rollins spent parts of two seasons proving himself through Milwaukee’s two-way system. Mitchell went from a second-round two-way signing to a championship contributor and Top 100 player in only two years.

That range is what makes the group meaningful. A two-way contract does not describe a player’s ceiling; it describes where that player stands at one moment in his career. The current Two Way Talents player rankings are filled with players trying to make the same jump. Some will never reach a standard roster spot, while others may eventually become impossible to imagine as two-way players at all. Reaves, Rollins, Mitchell and Reid show just how far that jump can lead.