Poll: Which Restricted FA Gets A Max Deal?
October 31st was the deadline for NBA teams to sign fourth-year players currently on a rookie scale contract to a contract extension and forgo the chance of that player hitting restricted free agency next summer. Paul George, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins were the most richly rewarded among those who locked up extensions in advance of the deadline, as all three reached deals for the max. Notable players who did not sign an extension with their team were Eric Bledsoe, Avery Bradley, Gordon Hayward, Greg Monroe, Evan Turner, and Greivis Vasquez. Assuming their teams tender qualifying offers, these players will become restricted free agents next year.
The teams these likely restricted free agents are on will have the right of first refusal for anyone bidding on them next summer. For a few of these players, the bidding seems to be plentiful. Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report quoted an opposing GM saying the “Jazz had better lock up Hayward”. (Twitter link) Jason Jones of the Sacrament Bee tweets the Kings “love” Vasquez. Lon Babby, president of the Phoenix Suns basketball operations, told Matt Petersen of Suns.com the Suns would “do everything we can to make sure [Bledsoe] is happy.”
Which of these players do you think will benefit most from becoming a restricted free agent next summer? Who do you think stands the best chance of getting a max deal?
Which Restricted FA Gets A Max Deal?
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Greg Monroe 37% (421)
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None of the Above 31% (349)
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Eric Bledsoe 21% (238)
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Gordon Hayward 9% (99)
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Greivis Vasquez 2% (22)
Total votes: 1,129
Knicks Notes: Leslie, Davis, D-League
After falling to the Bulls on a last second Carmelo Anthony miss, the Knicks look to avoid moving below .500 tomorrow when they face the Timberwolves in New York. As we look forward to Sunday night’s game, a few other newsworthy notes around the Knicks organization.
- The Knicks began to fill out the roster of their D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks by adding among others, forwards C.J. Leslie and Justin Brownlee. The Knicks continue to show interest in Leslie who was a member of the Knicks training camp until they released him last week. The NBA allows for teams to retain the D-League rights of up to three camp invitees which is how the Knicks were able to add Leslie and Brownlee to the Erie roster.
- Ian Begley of ESPN New York reports that another member of the BayHawks’ roster, a former NBA first-round pick and Erie’s sixth-round pick in Friday’s D-League draft, Ricky Davis had a “strong showing on defense” in a workout with the Knicks this summer. Davis will be trying to make his way back on to an NBA roster since the 2009/10 NBA season when he was a member of the Clippers.
- Charles Barkley, who previously faulted Carmelo Anthony for starting the conversation about his pending free agency next summer, has now blamed the media for distracting the team.
Hoops Rumors’ 2013 International Tracker
Even when NBA rosters expand to a 20-player maximum during the offseason, there are only a limited number of openings for all the NBA hopefuls worldwide. Given how hard it is to earn a roster spot in the Association, many talented players ultimately end up on teams in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia.
At Hoops Rumors, we focus primarily on NBA roster moves, or at least players that have recently been on NBA rosters, passing along only the more noteworthy international transactions. But we were still interested in following player movement in those non-NBA leagues this offseason, which is why we introduced our International Player Movement Tracker.
Working with Mark Porcaro of Secret Rival, we created a database of thousands of players, tracking which teams they played for last season, and where they’re playing for the coming 2013/14 campaign. Using our tracker, you can search and sort players by the team they played for (or the country they played in) either last season or this season, as well as the college they attended (or their home country).
For instance, if you’re curious about which former Kansas players are on roster overseas, you can use this link to check on the statuses of Keith Langford, Julian Wright, Aaron Miles, Josh Selby, and others. If you’d like to see players currently on the CSKA roster in Russia, you can search by current team and find this list.
Like our Free Agent Tracker, our International Player Movement Tracker will no longer be updated now that the NBA season, along with many other leagues’ seasons, is underway. We’ll continue to pass along word of new deals for notable former NBA players or camp invitees, but our tracker will stand as a record of this offseason’s movement, and won’t follow in-season changes.
Our 2013 International Player Movement Tracker can be found anytime under the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar.
Odds & Ends: Howard, Turiaf, Bobcats, Beasley
Here’s a quick rundown of some notes around the NBA this Saturday:
- Josh Howard was named to the training camp roster for the Austin Toros, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. The 10-year veteran, who underwent season-ending ACL surgery last winter, will play for the Spurs’ D-League affiliate as he rehabs his knee. The Spurs signed and waived Howard just last Saturday to ensure that they would retain his D-League rights.
- McDonald adds that San Antonio camp invitees Courtney Fells and Myck Kabongo will join Howard in Austin.
- The Timberwolves announced today (via Twitter) that Ronny Turiaf has undergone an MRI revealing a fracture of his right elbow. No timetable for his return has been given. The Wolves are already missing forward Chase Budinger, who is sidelined indefinitely after undergoing arthroscopic surgery. We heard last night that no Wolves roster moves were brewing, but if Turiaf and Budinger miss significant time, the team may need to reconsider its options.
- Bobcats owner Michael Jordan oversaw a summer in which the team hurt its chances for next year’s No. 1 pick, but he finally showed that he has a legitimate plan in place for the team, argues Tom Sorensen of the Charlotte Observer.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes that Michael Beasley and Roger Mason of the Heat need to prove they can provide value off the bench since their non-guaranteed contracts can be waived until the January 10th NBA guarantee date. Beasley in particular needs to demonstrate that he has grown out of his off-the-court issues that caused many NBA GMs to look past him during free agency.
- The NBA Player’s Association has started to narrow down candidates for the executive director position, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The NBPA aims to have finalists selected by All-Star weekend.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Central Notes: Billups, Hollins, Antetokounmpo
This NBA offseason saw an unusual amount of head coaching turnover, notes Jodie Valade of the Plain Dealer. Three of the record 13 new head coaches have found homes in the Central Division: Mike Brown for the Cavaliers, Larry Drew for the Bucks, and Maurice Cheeks for the Pistons. Here are some more notes from around the Central Division:
- Tayshaun Prince says he was “shocked” when fellow former Pistons mainstay Chauncey Billups decided to return to Detroit this summer, but he applauds the team for a summer that was “a move in the right direction,” as MLive’s David Mayo observes.
- Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks said he spoke with Lionel Hollins about the former Grizzlies coach joining the Detroit staff as an assistant, tweets Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News. The talks likely took place during the summer, as Hollins remains without a coaching gig.
- Playing time might be limited for rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the Bucks would rather keep him in Milwaukee than send him on D-League assignment, tweets Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. The Bucks share the Fort Wayne Mad Ants with six other NBA teams, so Antetokounmpo might get lost in the shuffle if sent down.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Players Who Can Veto Trades
No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA. Only four of the most decorated players have them — Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. Garnett retains his no-trade power even though he waived it this summer to facilitate his move to the Nets. It’s much more common that a player will gain a de-facto no-trade clause through a quirk in the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
Bird rights, Early Bird rights and Non-Bird rights are all mechanisms that allow teams to go above the salary cap to retain their own players. Trades usually have no effect on those rights, but that’s not the case with players on one-year contracts. A team that acquires a player on a one-year deal via trade can’t use any form of Bird rights to re-sign that player the following offseason. The player often stands to lose financially in such a case, so the NBA allows players on one-year contracts to block trades. Despite this, some players allow trades to go through anyway, as Marreese Speights did last year when the Grizzlies sent him to the Cavaliers.
The no-trade rule includes players signed to two-year deals that include a team or player option on the final year. For the purposes of the no-trade rule, option seasons don’t count until they’re exercised, and options on non-rookie scale contracts generally aren’t exercised until the end of the season, well past the trade deadline.
Clubs retain Bird rights on players they re-sign even if they had renounced their rights before re-signing them. In other words, a player’s “Bird clock” doesn’t reset if a team renounces his rights, as long as he re-signs with that team. For instance, Jannero Pargo spent last season with the Bobcats, who renounced his rights this past summer before signing him to a new one-year contract. Pargo will be eligible for Early Bird rights next offseason, even though the Bobcats renounced his non-Bird rights this summer. So, the ‘Cats would need his consent to trade him this year.
Similarly, the Mavericks waived Bernard James this summer and re-signed him, but, just as with Pargo, his “Bird clock” did not reset, so the Mavs can’t trade James and his new one-year contract without consent.
This rule is also one reason why teams will often tack a non-guaranteed season onto the contract of an end-of-the-bench player they sign at midseason. Partial seasons count toward Bird eligibility just as much as full seasons do. Also, non-guaranteed seasons don’t function like option seasons, so their existence doesn’t invoke the trade-consent rule.
There’s one other situation that would require a team to have a player’s consent before trading him. A restricted free agent who signs with a new team only to have his original team match the offer sheet has the power to veto trades during the first year of his deal. Jeff Teague of the Hawks, who signed an offer sheet with the Bucks in the offseason, is the lone player who falls under the rule this year.
One additional note: No player signed this offseason can be traded until December 15th, at the earliest.
Here’s a team-by-team breakdown of players who can block trades this season. All these players gained their veto power based on the Bird rights stipulation unless otherwise noted:
Atlanta Hawks
- Jeff Teague (matched offer sheet)
Boston Celtics
- None
Brooklyn Nets
- Kevin Garnett (no-trade clause)
- Andray Blatche
Charlotte Bobcats
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
- None
Dallas Mavericks
- Dirk Nowitzki (no-trade clause)
- Bernard James
Denver Nuggets
- None
Detroit Pistons
- None
Golden State Warriors
- None
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
- None
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
- Kobe Bryant (no-trade clause)
Memphis Grizzlies
- None
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
- None
Minnesota Timberwolves
- None
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
- None
Philadelphia 76ers
- None
Phoenix Suns
- None
Portland Trail Blazers
- None
Sacramento Kings
- None
San Antonio Spurs
- Tim Duncan (no-trade clause)
Toronto Raptors
- None
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.
Western Rumors: Kings, Martin, Bledsoe
Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said the lack of extensions for Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson and the team’s decision to decline its fourth-year option on Jimmer Fredette aren’t necessarily a reflection of the way the club feels about those players.
“With Jimmer, we spoke to him and his representatives throughout the process,” D’Alessandro said, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee observes. “And they’re not easy decisions to make. We have these deadlines that are at an awkward time, Oct. 31, especially at a time when we just got our positions here.”
We heard earlier that the Kings are enamored with Vasquez and intend to match any offer he gets in restricted free agency this summer. Here’s more on free agents past and future, with a Western kick:
- There were times last season when Kevin Martin could tell his stay with the Thunder would be a short one, he tells reporters, including Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Martin also reveals that free agency was much more stressful than he imagined, but he says he’s glad he wound up in “the perfect spot” with the Timberwolves.
- Eric Bledsoe isn’t saying whether he envisions staying with the Suns for the long haul after failing to strike a deal on an extension, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
- The rift between Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant was real and profound on the Lakers last season, as former teammate Antawn Jamison explains to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Meanwhile, Howard is relaxed, engaged, and confident that he made the right decision to sign with the Rockets, Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes.
- J.J. Hickson isn’t pleased about the way his Blazers tenure ended, as we noted last night, but after signing with the Nuggets in part because of an opportunity for playing time, he’s seeing plenty of minutes, as Hoopsworld’s Joel Brigham details.
D-League Assignments
D-League teams stocked their rosters through last night’s draft, and soon NBA teams will be adding more players to D-League lineups. Last year, rules were adjusted to allow NBA clubs to make an unlimited number of D-League assignments, and they took full advantage, as our lengthy list of 2012/13 assignments and recalls shows. The same rules are in place again this year, so once the D-League season gets underway, rare will be the day when players aren’t being shuttled back and forth between the NBA and its junior circuit.
The players that NBA teams assign to the D-League aren’t quite like other D-Leaguers. NBA players receive their full salaries while on D-League assignment, whereas the D-Leaguers without an NBA contract receive paltry annual earnings that topped out at around $26K last season. Still, a D-League assignment could wind up costing an NBA player, since performance in the D-League doesn’t count toward any incentive clauses built into an NBA contract. So, for instance, say Anderson Varejao is injured at some point this season, and he plays a few rehab games with Cleveland’s D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. None of the numbers Varejao might put up in Canton would count toward the $250K in performance incentives built into his deal with the Cavs.
Of course, Varejao would be a rare case as a long-tenured NBA player on a D-League assignment. Most NBA players in the D-League have fewer than three years of experience. That’s in part because NBA teams want to give their young players some extra seasoning, as the “D” in D-League stands for development, after all. Yet players in their first, second or third NBA seasons are the only ones NBA teams can unilaterally send down to the D-League. Otherwise, they must get the consent of the union as well as the player. Still, it’s not uncommon for a team to send a veteran player to practice with its D-League affiliate without making the formal assignment necessary for the player to appear in a D-League game.
Once a player has been assigned to the D-League, he can remain there indefinitely. He may also return to the NBA team the very next day only to once more find himself in the D-League hours later. That’s what happened multiple times for a few Thunder players last season, as Oklahoma City made frequent use of its one-to-one affiliation with the nearby Tulsa 66ers. The Thunder are one of 14 NBA teams that either owns a D-League team outright or operates the affiliate’s basketball operations in a “hybrid” partnership with a local ownership group. Teams that have these arrangements can set up a unified system in which the D-League club runs the same offensive and defensive schemes and coaches dole out playing time based on what’s best for the parent club. That gives these NBA teams an advantage, so it’s no surprise that a growing number of them are striking up one-to-one affiliations — last year, only 11 teams had such an arrangement.
That leaves the other 16 NBA teams to share just three D-League squads, which will make for a tight squeeze. D-League teams are allowed to expand their rosters to accept players on assignment from their NBA affiliates, and if there’s still no room, an NBA team would be allowed to send a player to a D-League team with which it’s not affiliated.
For more on the D-League, check out our list of affiliations for this year and bookmark https://www.hoopsrumors.com/nba-d-league/ to track the latest news about NBA players in the D-League.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
This post was initially published on November 7th, 2012.
Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Bradley, Lawal
The stripped-down Sixers have somehow managed to start 2-0, with wins over the Wizards and Heat. Still, not all is rosy in Philadelphia, where Evan Turner and GM Sam Hinkie appear to be suffering from a disconnect. Turner has spoken about feeling unwanted with coach Brett Brown, who doesn’t think the issue will cause problems for the team this year, as Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer observes. Here’s more on the Sixers and their Atlantic Division rivals:
- Avery Bradley isn’t worried that he and the Celtics couldn’t come to a deal on an extension, and neither is GM Danny Ainge, notes Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. “It doesn’t mean anything other than we talk next summer,” Ainge said. “He’s a big piece of our future.”
- The Sixers waived camp invitee Gani Lawal last week, and he’s headed back to Italy, where he played last season. Lawal has agreed to a deal with Olimpia Milano, reports Chema de Lucas of Gigantes (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
- Paul Pierce knew weeks before the Celtics traded him to the Nets this summer that his time in Boston was short, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com, who examines the attitudinal adjustment Pierce and Kevin Garnett have brought to the Nets.
- Executives from rival teams are convinced the Celtics have some sort of clause in their six-year contract with Brad Stevens that would allow them to recoup money in case Stevens leaves early, according to Ian Thomsen of SI.com. That’s an indication of the unusually high stature Stevens has as he enters his first NBA job.
Odds & Ends: Bledsoe, Turner, Bradley
The Suns might not get a discount on Eric Bledsoe this summer after passing on an extension for him last night, but team president of basketball operations Lon Babby would be OK with seeing Bledsoe’s price tag escalate if he has a breakout year. Matt Petersen of Suns.com shares that and more from Babby in the wake of last night’s extension deadline.
“I can’t say that we received an unqualified declaration of [Bledsoe wanting to stay in Phoenix long-term], but I wouldn’t expect that,” Babby said. “That’s part of the issue. He’s only been with us for a short time. But if you’re asking me is there any indication he’s not happy here, absolutely not. I think he’s very, very happy and we’ll do everything we can to make sure he’s happy. He’s an important part of this franchise for a long, long time to come.”
There’s more on a pair of players who’ll also hit restricted free agency this summer as we round up the latest from the Association:
- Evan Turner said earlier that he and Sixers GM Sam Hinkie didn’t have any talks about an extension, and that silence extends to any mention of Turner’s future in Philadelphia, as Turner told reporters, including Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. Turner isn’t sure if that future includes the Sixers after seeing the team trade Jrue Holiday, a player he called a “walking legend.” (Twitter links).
- Avery Bradley isn’t concerned that the Celtics passed on what reportedly would have been a four-year extension, telling Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald and other assembled media today that he’d love to stay in Boston.
- We already knew that the Rockets had protected B.J. Young from tonight’s D-League draft, and Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle notes the team did the same for fellow camp casualties Jordan Henriquez and Troy Daniels (Twitter link).
- In an interview with the YES Network, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov shared his enthusiastic response when informed of the prospect of the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade and explained that his desire for a non-traditional coach led him to Jason Kidd. Newsday’s Roderick Boone has the details.
- Commissioner-in-waiting Adam Silver spoke with Jared Weiss of CLNS Radio about the this season’s leaguewide rollout of SportVU cameras, expressing the league’s desire to create a level playing field in terms of the data and technology available to teams.