October 6: Hawkins’ two-way deal is official, the Bulls announced on Tuesday (via Twitter). As we relayed in a separate story, Stevens was waived in order to open up a spot on the 21-man roster for the newcomer.
October 5: The Bulls will sign guard Jordan Hawkins to a two-way contract, according to reports from Shams Charania of ESPN and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter links).
As Scotto notes, Hawkins will be reuniting with new Bulls head of basketball operations Bryson Graham, who was a member of New Orleans’ front office when the Pelicans drafted Hawkins 14th overall three years ago.
Chicago has an open two-way slot, so the team won’t have to waive a current two-way player to add Hawkins. However, the Bulls will have to release someone from their 21-man preseason roster, with the most likely candidates being Brandon Boston Jr., Orlando Robinson, Drew Peterson, Jalen Bridges or Isaiah Stevens, each of whom is signed to an Exhibit 10 deal.
Hawkins just cleared waivers on Monday after he was waived by Memphis on Friday night.
Hawkins declared for the 2023 draft after a sophomore season with UConn in which he averaged 16.2 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 38.8% from three-point range on high volume. The 6’5″ shooting guard helped the Huskies win a national championship that spring and was selected by the Pelicans a few months later.
While he was considered one of the better shooters in the 2023 class, Hawkins has yet to make a significant impact at the NBA level. The 24-year-old averaged 9.2 PPG and 2.5 RPG on .376/.348/.826 shooting in 123 regular season appearances over his first two seasons (20.2 MPG), then saw his playing time drop under a new front office regime in 2025/26, when he averaged 5.1 PPG and 1.7 RPG on .366/.348/.852 shooting in 51 games (13.6 MPG).
The Pelicans traded Hawkins and Micah Peavy to the Grizzlies last month in a cost-cutting move (New Orleans included a second-round pick and a second-round swap in the deal).
Hawkins actually agreed to a minor buyout with the Grizzlies at the time he was waived, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. He gave up $678,882 of his $7,021,895 salary, reducing his cap hit for Memphis to $6,343,013. He’ll make up that $678,882 on his new two-way deal with Chicago.
It’s a low-risk flyer for a Bulls team in the early stages of a rebuild, as two-way contracts aren’t fully guaranteed and don’t count against the cap. Hawkins will be eligible to appear in up to 50 regular season games and could spend time in the G League with the Windy City Bulls.
Because he’s entering his fourth NBA season, Hawkins’ two-way deal will cover just a single year before he returns to free agency in 2027.