2013 Free Agent Market News & Rumors

Over the next several weeks Hoops Rumors will examine how all the players on each NBA roster were signed. We will look at whether space under the salary cap or one of the various cap exceptions listed below were used to sign each player.

The NBA utilizes a soft salary cap which allows teams without cap space the ability to go over that season’s cap using one of the following salary cap exceptions.

• Bird Exception
• Early Bird Exception
• Non-Bird Exception
• Mid-Level Exception
• Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception
• Bi-Annual Exception
• Mini Mid-Level Exception
• Minimum Salary Exception
• Rookie Scale
• Disabled Player Exception
• Traded Player Exception

First up in our overview of each player’s contracts: The bi-annual exception. As the name describes, the bi-annual exception is available to teams every other year and is typically used to sign players worth more than the minimum salary but less than the mid-level exception.

The bi-annual exception allows a team to sign a player to a max of two seasons for a salary amount determined by the league each year. For 2013/14 the maximum amount allowed for the bi-annual exception is $2.016MM. Additionally, teams can give a player who is signing a bi-annual exception contract up to a 4.5% raise for the second season of that contract.

The bi-annual exception is very restrictive in its uses and results. Only teams above the salary cap but below the tax apron ($4MM over the tax threshold) are allowed to use the bi-annual exception. After using this exception, these teams are limited to a hard cap for that season, disallowing them from exceeding the tax apron at any time during the year.

Below is a team-by-team list of which players on current NBA rosters were signed under the bi-annual exception.

• Atlanta Hawks 
  • None
• Boston Celtics 
  • None
• Brooklyn Nets
  • None
• Charlotte Bobcats
  • None
• Chicago Bulls
  • None
• Cleveland Cavaliers 
  • None
• Dallas Mavericks
  • None
• Denver Nuggets 
  • Nate Robinson ($2.016MM 13/14; $2.106MM 14/15)
• Detroit Pistons
  • None
• Golden State
  • Jermaine O’Neal ($2MM 13/14; None 14/15)
• Houston Rockets
  • None
• Indiana Pacers
  • C.J. Watson ($2.016MM 13/14; $2.077MM 14/15)
• Los Angeles Clippers
  • None
• Los Angeles Lakers
  • None
• Memphis Grizzlies
  • None
• Miami Heat
  • None
• Milwaukee Bucks
  • None
• Minnesota Timberwolves
  • Ronny Turiaf ($1.5MM 13/14; $1.5MM 14/15)
• New Orleans Pelicans
  • None
• New York Knicks
  • None
• Oklahoma City Thunder
  • None
• Orlando Magic
  • None
• Philadelphia 76ers
  • None
• Phoenix Suns
  • None
• Portland Trailblazers
  • None
• Sacramento Kings
  • None
• San Antonio Spurs
  • Nando De Colo ($1.463MM 13/14; $1.828MM 14/15)
• Toronto Raptors
  • None
• Utah Jazz
  • None
• Washington Wizards
  • Eric Maynor ($2.016MM 13/14; $2.106MM 14/15)

StorytellersContracts and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.

Much has been made of the limited playing time Larry Sanders has seen to start the season. A thumb injury he suffered in a fight at a nightclub a week ago has kept him out of action since, but he’s yet to play a single fourth-quarter minute in the three games in which he’s appeared so far. It’s not what anyone expected after the Bucks signed him to a four-year, $44MM extension in the summer, and Sanders has been frustrated with his reduced role, as he told Steve Aschburner of NBA.com.

Of course, it’s early, and it would be an even greater surprise if Sanders’ minutes-per-game average continues to hang around 17.3, where it stands for the time being. He’s not the only player seeing more bench time than court time among those who signed eight-figure deals in the offseason.

Here are the half-dozen players who have at appeared in at least one game this season but have failed to log 20 minutes per contest on new deals worth at least $10MM.

• Larry Sanders, Bucks (four years, $44MM) — 17.3 MPG
• Andrew Bynum, Cavaliers (two years, $24.79MM) — 13.8 MPG
• Keith Bogans, Celtics (three years, $15.847MM) — 3.0 MPG
• Timofey Mozgov, Nuggets (three years, $14MM) — 17.0 MPG
• Quincy Pondexter, Grizzlies (four years, $14MM) — 15.7 MPG
• Marreese Speights, Warriors (three years, $10.973MM) — 14.1 MPG

Four others who’ve signed deals of $10MM or more have injuries that have kept them from playing at all this season:

• Al Jefferson, Bobcats (three years, $40.5MM)
• Carl Landry, Kings (four years, $26.047MM)
• Chase Budinger, Timberwolves (three years, $15MM)
• Brandan Wright, Mavericks — (two years, $10MM)

J.R. Smith re-signed with the Knicks on a three-year, $17.947MM contract this summer, but he’s just now making his season debut this afternoon against the Spurs because of a five-game drug-related suspension.

The Hoops Rumors 2013 Free Agent Tracker was used in the creation of this post. 

One of the reasons the Knicks don’t want to bring Jason Collins aboard right now is reportedly because they don’t want to go to the expense of doing so. But it’s not because Collins would cost the Knicks about $1.4MM on a minimum-salary contract. Instead, it’s probably because the team doesn’t want to cut a fully guaranteed deal and add anyone’s salary. Collins would only cost the Knicks and other NBA teams a prorated portion of $884,293 if he agreed to a one-year deal for the minimum, even though he’d indeed make nearly $1.4MM if paid for the entire season.

That’s because the league reimburses teams when they sign veterans with three or more years of experience to one-year, minimum-salary contracts. The NBA pays those veterans the difference between their escalated minimum salaries, which go up depending on how many years they’ve played in the league, and the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum, which is $884,293 this season. The idea is to give long-tenured veterans equal footing against less-experienced players as they compete for jobs. Of course, younger talent still often has an advantage, since the rookie minimum of $490,180 is not much more than half the two-year vet’s minimum this year. Plus, multiyear deals aren’t covered by this provision, so the club has to foot the full amount of those contracts.

There are 18 teams taking advantage of reimbursements as the season begins. The Bulls, looking to save luxury tax money, are the only team set to receive more than $1MM, thanks to their pair of one-year contracts with players who have 10 or more years of experience, the most lucrative bracket on the minimum-salary scale. Of course, this could change, since Mike James‘ deal is non-guaranteed, as is the case with many on minimum contracts. Plenty of midseason signings will change the landscape. All 10-day contracts will be for the minimum and covered under the reimbursement provision.

Still, it’s interesting to see which teams are benefiting from the NBA’s money for now. The Knicks come in second behind the Bulls with three qualifying players. The Lakers have the most players covered by the provision, but since their vets are relatively inexperienced, they’re only the 13th highest on this list.

The Celtics, Cavaliers, Nuggets, Pistons, Warriors, Bucks, Pelicans, 76ers, Suns, Kings, Spurs and Raptors aren’t receiving any reimbursements.

Bulls (1,030,428)

• Mike James ($515,214)
• Nazr Mohammed ($515,214)

Knicks ($935,006)

• Kenyon Martin ($515,214)
• Beno Udrih ($387,986)
• Cole Aldrich ($31,806)

Clippers (817,380)

• Antawn Jamison ($515,214)
• Ryan Hollins ($302,166)

Thunder ($817,380)

• Derek Fisher ($515,214)
• Ryan Gomes ($302,166)

Heat ($801,476)

• Roger Mason Jr. ($515,214)
• Michael Beasley ($143,131)
• Greg Oden ($143,131)

Bobcats ($737,862)

• Jannero Pargo ($515,214)
• Anthony Tolliver ($222,648)

Rockets ($658,345)

• Marcus Camby ($515,214) — no longer on team, but remains on payroll
• Aaron Brooks ($143,131)

Jazz ($547,020)

• Jamaal Tinsley ($515,214)
• Mike Harris ($31,806)

Wizards ($547,020)

• Al Harrington ($515,214)
• Garrett Temple ($31,806)

Pacers ($515,214)

• Rasual Butler ($515,214)

Grizzlies ($515,214)

• Mike Miller ($515,214)

Trail Blazers  ($515,214)

• Earl Watson ($515,214)

Lakers ($508,908)

• Jordan Farmar ($222,648)
• Shawne Williams ($222,648)
• Xavier Henry ($31,806)
• Wesley Johnson ($31,806)

Mavericks ($451,600)

• Devin Harris ($387,986)
• DeJuan Blair ($63,614)

Nets  ($387,986)

• Shaun Livingston ($387,986)

Magic ($302,166)

• Solomon Jones ($302,166)

Hawks ($143,131)

• Cartier Martin ($143,131)

Timberwolves  ($63,614)

• A.J. Price ($63,614)

ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.

The regular season is underway in the NBA and for leagues around the globe, creating the opportunity to look back on the full scope of an offseason of player movement. One tool that helps accomplish that is our International Player Movement Tracker, compiled by Hoops Rumors contributor Mark Porcaro. The tracker documents the flow of players in and out of leagues worldwide, including the NBA. Using the filter function, we can see all of the players who had NBA contracts at the end of last season but find themselves out of the league as 2013/14 gets going. In this post, we’ll narrow that group even further to look at guys who went from the NBA to overseas leagues.

China is the leading destination by a wide margin, boasting eight players who were in the NBA just this past spring. The Zheijian Chouzhou Golden Bulls made the most profound splash, grabbing Ivan Johnson, perhaps the most significant NBA talent making the jump to China this year, as well as Jerel McNeal, a late-season addition to the Jazz. The haul the Golden Bulls took in equals the number of recent NBA players signing in Italy, Russia and Turkey, the only countries other than China to make multiple such acquisitions. The Spanish ACB league, long considered the league with the most talent outside the NBA, brought in just one NBA import: Tyler Hansbrough‘s brother Ben Hansbrough.

Note that this list doesn’t include Jeremy Pargo, who signed with Russia’s CSKA. Pargo didn’t finish last season on an NBA roster, falling just short when the Sixers waived him on April 1st.

China

• Earl Barron, Knicks — Qingdao
• Donte Greene, Grizzlies — Dongguan
• Hamed Haddadi, Suns — Sichuan
• Ivan Johnson, Hawks — Zhejiang Chouzhou
• Jerel McNeal, Jazz — Zhejiang Chouzhou
• Johan Petro, Hawks — Zhejiang Guangsha
• Shavlik Randolph, Celtics — Foshan
• Sebastian Telfair, Raptors — Tianjin

Italy

• Kim English, Pistons — Montepaschi
• James White, Knicks — Reggio Emilia

Russia

• Luke Babbitt, Blazers — Nizhny Novgorod
• Mickael Gelabale, Timberwolves — Khimki

Turkey

• Linas Kleiza, Raptors — Fenerbahce
• Terrence Williams, Celtics — Turk Telekom

Croatia

• Nolan Smith, Blazers — Cedevita

France

• Kevin Murphy, Jazz — Strasbourg

Serbia

• Charles Jenkins, Sixers — Crvena Zvezda

Spain

• Ben Hansbrough, Pacers — Gran Canaria

Ukraine

• DaJuan Summers, Clippers — Budivelnik

Richard Hamilton isn’t making any money from professional basketball right now, and that’s quite a change from last season. The three-time All-Star made more than $11MM combined during 2012/13 from his contract with the Bulls and through his buyout agreement with the Pistons, who chipped in more than $6MM of his total take. Corey Maggette raked in more than $10.9MM playing for the Pistons last season, but the 33-year-old failed in his bid to make the Spurs on a minimum-salary contract. It appears Maggette will retire now, meaning he’d go from earning an eight-figure salary to not receiving a dime from pro basketball in the space of one year.

Hamilton, Maggette and Stephen Jackson all made more than $10MM last season playing the NBA, and none of them are signed for this season. Of course, some players who’ve been waived via the amnesty clause saw even larger streams of income dry up this summer once their old contracts finally lapsed, but the focus here is on players who still remained on NBA rosters last season.

There are nine players who find themselves on the shelf this year after making more than $5MM playing in the NBA last season. Hedo Turkoglu figures to join them soon, once the Magic figure out what they’re going to do with his $12MM expiring contract. The deal is only guaranteed for $6MM, but the Magic want to see what they can get on the trade market for Turkoglu rather than release him right away, even though the team has told him to stay home. His $11,815,850 salary last season would put him atop this list, which includes every unsigned player who made more than $5MM while on an NBA roster last season.

• Richard Hamilton, Pistons/Bulls ($11,069,767 — $6,069,767 from Pistons and $5MM from Bulls)
• Corey Maggette, Pistons ($10,924,138)
• Stephen Jackson, Spurs ($10,059,750)
• Lamar Odom, Clippers ($8.2MM)
• Tyrus Thomas, Bobcats ($8MM)
• DeSagana Diop, Bobcats ($7,372,200)
• Drew Gooden, Bucks ($6,687,400)
• Luke Walton, Cavaliers ($6,091,363)
• Brandon Roy, Timberwolves ($5.1MM)

Storyteller’s Contracts was used in the creation of this post.

Shorter contracts are one of the aims of the current collective bargaining agreement, which dropped the limit on most free agent pacts from five seasons to four. Contracts signed via Bird rights are kept to five years after the previous CBA allowed them to run six. The new rules have only been in place since 2011, but as more contracts signed since then reach their conclusion, the likely result will be more players hitting the market each summer. Options and non-guaranteed money effectively shorten many contracts even further, providing less stability around the league.

The Wolves and Nikola Pekovic are in an unusual position, essentially wedded to each other until the summer of 2018, barring a trade. Pekovic and Chris Paul were the only free agents receive five-year contracts this summer, and unlike Paul, who has an early termination option for 2017/18, Pekovic has no such stipulation in his deal.

Only 10 of this summer’s free agent contracts cover four years without an option or non-guaranteed money. Seven of those 10 are on Western Conference payrolls, and together with Pekovic and Paul, who are also on Western clubs, nine of the 12 contracts that will cover no less than four seasons are contained on one side of the league.

Here’s the complete list. Bear in mind that these are free agent contracts, so extensions, like the five-year pacts John Wall and Paul George have signed, aren’t included.

• Tony Allen, Grizzlies: four years, $20MM
• Jose Calderon, Mavericks: four years, $29MM
• Tyreke Evans, Pelicans: four years, $44MM
• Andre Iguodala, Warriors: four years, $48MM
• Kyle Korver, Hawks: four years, $24MM
• Carl Landry, Kings: four years, $26.047MM
• Chris Paul, Clippers (fifth-year ETO): five years, $107.343MM
• Nikola Pekovic, Timberwolves: five years, $60MM
• J.J. Redick, Clippers: four years, $27.755MM
• Josh Smith, Pistons: four years, $54MM
• Tiago Splitter, Spurs: four years, $36MM
• Jeff Teague, Hawks: four years, $32MM

ShamSports and the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Tracker was used in the creation of this post.

Richard Hamilton started the majority of the regular season games the Bulls played last season, but the three-time All-Star is without NBA work as opening night approaches. Hamilton finds himself with plenty of company. A dozen players started at least 10 games for a single NBA team last season, yet are without an NBA playing contract for 2013/14. Jason Kidd started an even greater share of the Knicks regular season games than Hamilton did, but rather than seek another playing gig, he sought and won the Nets head coaching job.

We’ll list those 12 players here, along with their team from last year and the number of games they started for that club. Anyone who bounced around and collected 10 or more starts with multiple teams isn’t listed — we’re focusing on players who had a significant role with a single team last season:

• Jason Kidd (Knicks) 48 — retired
• Richard Hamilton (Bulls) 45 — unsigned
• Marquis Daniels (Bucks) 33 — unsigned
• Jamaal Tinsley (Jazz) 32 — unsigned
• DeShawn Stevenson (Hawks) 31 — unsigned
• Kurt Thomas (Knicks) 17 — unsigned
• James White (Knicks) 16 — playing in Italy
• Mickael Pietrus (Raptors) 16 — unsigned
• Dahntay Jones (Mavericks) 15 — unsigned (signed with Bulls to camp deal and released)
• Hakim Warrick (Bobcats) 14 — unsigned
• Mickael Gelabale (Timberwolves) 13 — playing in Russia
• Jeremy Pargo (Cavaliers) 11 — playing in Russia

Basketball-Reference was used in the creation of this post.

If one of this year's camp invitees doesn't appear in a regular season game this year, don't expect him to wind up as a camp invitee again next fall. Only nine of this year's players on non-guaranteed deals without regular season NBA experience have gone to camp with NBA teams before.

Some repeat camp invitees are trying again to make their official NBA debuts on partially guaranteed deals this time around, like Dionte Christmas of the Suns, so a few are able to break through and at least ensure themselves of an NBA paycheck. In many cases, players may not be as willing to accept a second non-guaranteed camp invitation as they were the first time around, since a fruitless October spent with an NBA team can impinge upon opportunities in overseas leagues.

Ron Howard is the ultimate exception to this rule. He'd already been on non-guaranteed camp deals on three different occasions when he accepted yet another invitation this summer, this time from the Pacers. Once more without a guarantee, the 6'5" swingman and longtime D-League standout is competing with three other camp invitees for as many as two open spots on the Indiana roster, hoping that experience will give him an edge.

Players currently on non-guaranteed deals who've yet to play in an NBA regular season game are below, listed by team. Their previous camp teams are listed in parentheses, along with the season in which the camp took place. For the sake of this exercise, we'll include players on fully non-guaranteed multiyear contracts, like Hollis Thompson of the Sixers, as well as those on non-guaranteed one-year camp deals. 

• 76ers: Hollis Thompson (2012/13 Thunder)
• Bobcats: None
• Bucks: None
• Bulls: None
• Cavaliers: None
• Celtics: None
• Clippers: Mustapha Farrakhan (2012/13 Bucks)
• Grizzlies: Tony Gaffney (2009/10 Lakers, 2010/11 Celtics), Willie Reed (2012/13 Kings)*
• Hawks: None
• Heat: None
• Jazz: None
• Kings: Brandon Heath (2008/09 Lakers)
• Knicks: None
• Lakers: Eric Boateng (2010/11 Nuggets)
• Magic: None
• Mavericks: None
• Nets: None
• Nuggets: Kyle Fogg (2012/13 Rockets)
• Pacers: Ron Howard (2008/09 Bucks, 2009/10 Knicks, 2011/12 Bucks)
• Pelicans: None
• Pistons: None
• Raptors: None
• Rockets: None
• Spurs: None
• Suns: None
• Thunder: None
• Timberwolves: None
• Trail Blazers: None
• Warriors: Cameron Jones (2011/12 Heat)
• Wizards: None

*— The Grizzlies signed Reed shortly before the end of the regular season this past April, but he has yet to appear in a regular season game.

RealGM.com was used in the creation of this post.

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