Most teams have the benefit of waiting until the draft and free agency to start making decisions about what to do with their rosters for next season. The Nuggets don’t have such a luxury with Quincy Miller.
His contract dictates that his salary for next season becomes partially guaranteed for $150K if he isn’t waived on or before the date that falls seven days after the team’s final game, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports. The Nuggets aren’t headed to the playoffs, so that means the team has to either waive him by the end of the day on April 23rd or take a cap hit next season for a player who’s seen action in just 56 games since Denver picked him 38th overall two years ago. Denver recently moved Miller into the starting lineup, knowing that the time to evaluate him is running perilously short.
Several other players on non-guaranteed contracts for next season have guarantee dates that come up before July. Almost all of their guarantee dates are on June 30th, four days after the draft. That suggests that some of the players could find themselves in trades around draft time, given their value to teams looking to clear cap space for next season. The early guarantee dates put a little extra pressure on GMs, who can’t wait until the free agent landscape starts taking shape to decide on these players.
Here’s a complete list of players who have 2014/15 guarantee dates that come up before the books close on the 2013/14 season. The 2014/15 salaries are currently non-guaranteed, unless otherwise noted.
- April 23rd: Quincy Miller, Nuggets — Becomes partially guaranteed for $150K
- June 28th: Andre Miller, Wizards — Already $2MM guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $4,625MM
- June 29th: Tyler Hansbrough, Raptors — Already $1MM guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $3,326,235
- June 30th: Jamal Crawford, Clippers — Already $1.5MM guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $5.45MM
- June 30th: Jeffery Taylor, Bobcats — Becomes fully guaranteed for $915,243
- June 30th: Kosta Koufos, Grizzlies — Already $500K guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $3MM
- June 30th: James Anderson, Sixers — Becomes fully guaranteed for $981,084
- June 30th: Tony Parker, Spurs — Already $3.5MM guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $12.5MM
- June 30th: Austin Daye, Spurs — Already $250K guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $1,063,384
- June 30th: John Salmons, Raptors — Already $1MM guaranteed; becomes fully guaranteed for $7MM
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.