Players Out For Season Worth Total Of $54.2MM
News that another former All-Star will probably miss the season broke Friday, as Al Horford went down with a torn pectoral muscle. He joins a group of seven players who are either definitively out for the year or appear to have a strong chance of missing the rest of the season. Derrick Rose‘s more than $17.6MM salary leads the bunch, and put together, those injured players will make $54,200,765 in 2013/14. All of that money is guaranteed salary.
It’s a figure that’s just a few million dollars shy of the $58.679MM salary cap, and it’s greater than the entire payroll of the Sixers, who have a player of their own on the list in Nerlens Noel. That total doesn’t include the salaries of recovering stars like Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook and Marc Gasol, who are all missing significant time but should return later this season. It also doesn’t account for players like Danilo Gallinari and Carl Landry, who’ve yet to play this season because of injury but are slated to come back at some point before 2013/14 is over.
Some of the teams with players who are out for the season may wind up with some additional flexibility via the disabled player exception, but even that wouldn’t make an injured player’s salary stop counting against the salary cap or toward luxury tax penalties. When a player with a fully guaranteed contract goes down for the season, it’s a sunk cost.
Here are the seven players lost for 2013/14, in descending order of their salaries:
- Derrick Rose, Bulls ($17,632,688)
- Brook Lopez, Nets ($14,693,906)
- Emeka Okafor, Suns ($14,487,500)
- Al Horford, Hawks ($12MM)
- Nerlens Noel, Sixers ($3,172,320)
- Quincy Pondexter, Grizzlies ($2,225,479)
- Jeff Taylor, Bobcats ($788,872)
ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.
Knicks Consider Adding Jeremy Tyler This Week
Knicks management has engaged in a “serious” discussion about signing Jeremy Tyler this week, when a four-day layoff in the schedule would allow the big man to get acclimated in practice, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks have long been expected to sign the 6’10” center at some point after waiving him during the preseason, when he was on the shelf with a stress fracture in his foot. The Knicks might also wait until January 6th, when 10-day contracts may be signed, to buy a little more time for Tyler’s foot to fully heal.
Tyler, a two-year NBA veteran, has been playing for the Knicks’ D-League affiliate, averaging 18.0 points and 10.2 rebounds in six games so far. He’s improved his efficiency over his past few outings, cutting his turnovers and raising his field goal percentage to 47.8%. The Knicks had reportedly been waiting to sign Tyler until they figured out what to do about potential trades for other players, but with owner James Dolan having told the team that no trades are forthcoming, perhaps that’s cleared the way for Tyler to come aboard. A conflicting report indicates that Knicks management is still working on trades in spite of what Dolan said, so it’s not clear if the notion of signing Tyler is still tied to trade discussions.
The Knicks would have to clear a roster spot before adding Tyler. Toure’ Murry and Cole Aldrich are on non-guaranteed contracts and have played sparingly, though Murry’s longest outing of the season came last night, and cutting Aldrich to make room for Tyler would do nothing to supplement the team’s frontcourt depth. Chris Smith‘s contract is fully guaranteed for the rookie minimum salary, but he’s played just two minutes so far this season, making him a candidate to go, Berman writes.
Signing Tyler this week would mean his contract would become fully guaranteed if the team doesn’t waive him on or before January 7th. Waiting until January 6th to sign him to a 10-day contract would mean the Knicks wouldn’t have to decide whether to pay him for the rest of the season until January 26th, since Tyler could sign a pair of 10-day deals, so such a maneuver would give the Knicks more flexibility, as Berman explains.
How They Were Signed: Early Bird & Non-Bird Exception
After looking at the frequently used Bird exception earlier this week, we will now inspect which NBA players have been signed to their current contracts using one of the lesser-used forms of the Bird exception. These variations to the Bird exception are the Early Bird exception and the Non-Bird exception. Both exceptions are similar to the Bird exception in that they were designed to allow teams to re-sign their players regardless of that NBA team’s current cap space.
As we discussed previously, in order for a player to earn their Bird rights they need to play for their NBA team for at least three seasons. However, a player can earn their Early Bird rights after playing for a team for only two seasons. Once a player has earned those rights their NBA team can re-sign that player for up to four years for either 175% of that player’s previous year’s salary or the league-average salary, whichever is greater. Whatever the first year salary becomes under this exception, the team may raise that player’s salary each year up to 7.5% of the previous year’s salary. More details on the Early Bird exception can be read here.
Even less playing time is needed for a player to earn their Non-Bird rights. If a player ends a season on an NBA roster, they are eligible for Non-Bird rights. Once a player has earned those rights, their NBA team can re-sign that player for the greatest of 1) 120% of the player’s previous salary, 2) 120% of the minimum salary, or 3) the amount of a qualifying offer that player may have if they are a restricted free agent. Once the first year salary is agreed upon, the team can sign that player for up to four years and give them up to 4.5% annual raises each year. More details on the Non-Bird exception can be read here.
Below is a team-by-team list of players who were signed using the Early Bird or Non-Bird exception. It is assumed the players signed via the Early Bird exception unless otherwise noted.
- Atlanta Hawks
- None
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Reggie Evans (Non-Bird Exception)
- Andray Blatche (Non-Bird Exception)
- Charlotte Bobcats
- None
- Chicago Bulls
- None
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Dallas Mavericks
- Denver Nuggets
- Randy Foye (Non-Bird Exception)
- Detroit Pistons
- Golden State
- None
- Houston Rockets
- None
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Willie Green (Non-Bird Exception)
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Robert Sacre (Non-Bird Exception)
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Miami Heat
- None
- Milwaukee Bucks
- None
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- None
- New Orleans Pelicans
- None
- New York Knicks
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- None
- Orlando Magic
- None
- Philadelphia 76ers
- None
- Phoenix Suns
- Ishmael Smith (Non-Bird Exception)
- Portland Trailblazers
- None
- Sacramento Kings
- None
- San Antonio Spurs
- Danny Green
- Patrick Mills (Non-Bird Exception)
- Toronto Raptors
- Utah Jazz
- Washington Wizards
StorytellersContracts and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.
Poll: What Happens To Andrew Bynum Now?
News broke this morning that the Cavaliers have indefinitely suspended Andrew Bynum for conduct detrimental to the team. This news started a flurry of rumors regarding Bynum’s future with the Cavaliers. We have put together a comprehensive list of all those rumors. Most of those rumors have included teams that will not be interested in trading or signing Bynum if waived rather than teams that are interested in Bynum. Two teams – the Heat and Clippers, have emerged as teams that would be interested in Bynum if waived.
Due to Bynum’s injury history, the contract he signed with the Cavaliers is not fully guaranteed. This will make the guarantee date of January 7th an important date for Cleveland’s front office. If they don’t trade or cut Bynum by then, they will owe him his entire $12.25MM salary for 2013/14 instead of his only $6MM currently guaranteed salary.
Odds & Ends: Magic, Stephenson, Warriors
Shortly after playing in his first game back since he suffered a torn meniscus, Solomon Jones told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel he is enjoying more than being able to return to playing for the Magic. Jones, who is playing on a minimum salary contract this season, has enjoyed living close to his childhood home and his family. Averaging almost eight minutes in the games he has played, it will be seen whether Jones will play his way into another season near his home town.
A few other notes around the league.
- According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (Twitter Link), rival NBA executives are predicting that Pacers guard Lance Stephenson will be worth between $7-9MM per season when he enters free agency next summer. While the Pacers and Stephenson have both expressed interest in re-signing with each other next season, a $9MM price tag would almost guarantee they will only be able to re-sign either Stephenson or fellow Pacer free agent, Danny Granger.
- The Warriors have assigned center Ognjen Kuzmic and guard Nemanja Nedovic to their NBA D-League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors. In a team announcement, the Warriors said both rookies will be able to play in tonight’s D-League game. Kuzmic has missed most of this season with a hand injury but has averaged 4.1 MPG in the games he has played with the Warriors. Nedovic has appeared in all but 10 of the Warriors games averaging 6.4 MPG, and 1.1 PPG.
- According to Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal, the Cavaliers biggest need this season is at the small forward position. Former head coach Byron Scott told Lloyd in the summer of 2012 that the Cavaliers have been trying to resolve that position for some time but have not been successful to date. Aware that Cleveland spent their first overall pick on small forward Anthony Bennett, Lloyd still thinks the Cavaliers are looking to fill that hole and could do so in this season’s trade market. The only issue according to Lloyd is every inquiring team wants Dion Waiters in any trade they do with Cleveland which is a move the Cavaliers are unwilling to make.
- Although we knew Brook Lopez‘s season is over, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York reports that Brook Lopez will undergo surgery on his foot January 4th officially ending his 2013/14 campaign. Unless the Nets trade him, Lopez will be back for Brooklyn next season continuing the 4 year contract he signed back in 2012.
Latest On Andrew Bynum
The stir that the Cavaliers created today with their announcement of an indefinite suspension for Andrew Bynum has prompted plenty of rumors, and since our original story is getting lengthy, we’ll split off the latest on the one-time All-Star center into a new post. Here’s what we know:
- The Heat would likely have interest in Bynum if they can clear a roster spot for him, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Miami and the Clippers are Bynum’s preferred destinations, and both have been keeping an eye on big men who could become available.
Earlier updates:
- Trading Bynum may be a difficult task, as Sam Amico was told (Twitter Link) by an NBA executive: “Trading for him won’t magically make the issues just go away. He doesn’t love the game.”
- A source close to the Cavaliers tells HoopsWorld’s Alex Kennedy that Bynum was exhibiting the same “reckless behavior” in Cleveland that he did when he was a member of the Lakers (Twitter link). The big man has shown frequent disrespect to his coaches, Kennedy’s source said.
- The Lakers don’t seem likely to bring Bynum back, according to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times.
- The Mavs met with Bynum when he was a free agent this summer, but they’re probably not interested in him now, writes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- If the Cavs can’t find a trade partner, it’s not clear whether they’ll keep Bynum beyond January 7th, when the guaranteed portion of his contract jumps from $6MM to his full $12.25MM salary, according to Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today. The Clippers would be interested in Bynum if he were to become a free agent because they know they need to address their weakness at backup center, according to Zillgitt and Amick.
- Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio hears there’s no interest from other teams in trading for Bynum and that the Cavs will indeed wind up releasing him before his contract becomes fully guaranteed (Twitter links).
- Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer takes Bynum to task for his apparent lack of commitment and raises the idea that the Cavs could trade him closer to the deadline if they decide to keep him beyond January 7th.
- Bynum probably won’t end up with the Warriors, since the organization loves its team chemistry and already has three backup centers with guaranteed contracts (Twitter links).
- Bynum might be a disruptive presence in the Cavs locker room, but if there were such problems when he was with the Sixers, no one has said anything about it, writes Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Pelicans Might Trade Rights To Pierre Jackson
The latest piece from Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio focuses on collegians, D-Leaguers and overseas players drawing heavy attention from NBA scouts, including Chris Wright, Devin Ebanks and Dylon Cormier, but it also delivers news on a player whose rights belong to an NBA team. The Pelicans are willing to trade Pierre Jackson, the 42nd pick in the draft this past June, for “future considerations” and perhaps cash. It’s not clear exactly what those future considerations would entail.
New Orleans acquired Jackson’s NBA rights from the Sixers as part of this summer’s trade for Jrue Holiday. The Las Vegas native signed this summer with ASVEL Villeurbanne of France, a team in which Tony Parker is a part-owner, but in September he parted ways with the club. Jackson wound up entering the D-League draft, and the Idaho Stampede, the affiliate of the Trail Blazers, picked him fourth overall. Still, neither the Blazers nor any NBA team aside from the Pelicans are allowed to sign him to an NBA contract.
Jackson, a 5’10” point guard from Baylor, is coming off a 41-point performance and averaging 29.0 points per game, and while his 4.8 turnovers per contest outnumber his 4.7 assists average, he’s perhaps the most “dynamic” player in the D-League, Amico writes. He’s nonetheless in a tough spot unless the Pelicans decide to sign him or trade his rights to a team that’s willing to give up assets in a trade for the chance to bring him aboard.
Eastern Links: Nets, West, Deng, Shumpert
Nets players are reportedly confused about their roles on the team amid an organizational lack of patience with Jason Kidd, but Deron Williams tells Tim Bontemps of the New York Post that he thinks the players still support their coach.
“If we were losing some close games and he was making some bad decisions, that would be one thing, but that’s not the case,” Williams said. “We got blown out [Wednesday]. He can’t make us outrebound teams, he can’t make us put the extra little bit in to get over the hump. That’s on us as players to come out and play better.”
There’s more news on the Nets amid our look at the Eastern Conference:
- Pacers power forward David West considered signing with the Nets after the lockout in 2011, but the Teaneck, N.J., native tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News that the team wasn’t interested because of fears regarding his recovery from a torn ACL.
- The Bulls aren’t keen on the idea of trading Luol Deng and if they did, they’d need a piece that solidifies their future, which means they’d require someone better than Iman Shumpert of the Knicks, tweets Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld.
- The Raptors are looking to the future and would ideally like to build with the draft, but in a strange twist of fate, they’re winning games and they may not get that choice lottery pick, writes Howard Beck of the Bleacher Report. Part of the reason for their success could be that several players — as well as coach Dwane Casey — are in their walk years.
- The Heat are off to a strong start and so is their D-League affiliate, notes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
Zach Links contributed to this post.
Cavs Suspend Andrew Bynum, Trade Possible
1:45pm: The Cavs had planned to cut Bynum’s playing time, and he expressed displeasure about that, according to Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer. The center has also been upset with Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, believing they hogged the ball and didn’t look for him down low, Pluto writes. The Plain Dealer’s Mary Schmitt Boyer and Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe pass along Irving’s input on Bynum. (Twitter link).
“It’s just a terrible situation internally with our team,” Irving said. “It’s just something we have to get over. Coach’s decision, came from management. That’s kind of where it stays is with management.”
1:25pm: The Cavaliers are “determined” to trade Andrew Bynum, as Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports write, adding that he’s almost certainly played his final game as a Cavalier. Wojnarowski and Spears hear that Bynum has lost his motivation to play and that the Cavs had to talk him out of quitting. The Yahoo! report also raises the notion that Bynum may seek a buyout so he can sign elsewhere. That possibility seems unlikely, since the Cavs appear ready to waive him on or before January 7th to avoid guaranteeing his full $12.25MM salary, even if they don’t find a trade partner.
Tension between the Cavs and Bynum has been building for the last month, and his lack of commitment to the team reached a tipping point in Friday’s practice, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
11:47am: After he didn’t travel with the Cavs for their game in Boston on Friday afternoon, the club announced that Andrew Bynum has been suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. This certainly isn’t how Cleveland hoped their Bynum deal would work out. Luckily for the Cavs, his deal is only partially guaranteed, and they can cut ties with him by January 7th to recoup $6MM of what he’s owed for this season.
The Cavs believe that the New jersey native has been a “disruptive” presence in the locker room and have lost hope that their partnership can be salvaged, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Teams that looked at Bynum over the offseason were equally as concerned with his motivation as his knee troubles, Wojnarowski tweets.
The Cavs will “aggressively” look to ship Bynum out of town, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. In what was perhaps a telling moment, coach Mike Brown would not respond when asked if Bynum had played his last game with Cleveland.
League sources tell Sam Amico of FOX Sports (on Twitter) that a deal will be challenging, but possible for the Cavs. The Clippers are one club that would have interest in Bynum, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today, if he’s released outright and there should be several more in that line. Bill Simmons of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears that he would consider the Celtics, but the Heat and Clippers would be his preferred destinations. For Bynum to land with the latter two, he’d have to be released, and the Cavs want to trade him. The Celtics have the right combo of expiring deals and assets to get a deal done.
Even though the Nets are in need of a big man in the wake of Brook Lopez‘s injury, they are not interested in Bynum, tweets David Aldridge of NBA.com. With an already unstable locker room in Brooklyn, that might be for the best.
Southeast Notes: LeBron, Maxiell, Heat, Bosh
We should all deal with injuries the way that Heat star LeBron James does. With a badly strained groin, James still managed to put up 33 points on 12-for-23 shooting) with eight rebounds and eight assists while passing Larry Bird and Gary Payton on the all-time scoring list in last night’s loss to the Kings. The injury is nagging LeBron, however, and he might sit out the upcoming contest against the Trail Blazers. More out of the Southeast Division..
- Jason Maxiell has assumed a mentor role with his young Magic team, writes Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News. After spending his entire career with the Pistons, it has been something of an adjustment for the forward. “Different all the way around,” Maxiell said. “First time I’ve been away from Detroit in nine years. Organization’s different, atmosphere is different, players are different, but it’s not bad at all.”
- In today’s mailbag, a reader asks ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel if LeBron and Chris Bosh are less likely to re-sign with Dwyane Wade being held out of games at age 31. Quite the opposite, Winderman says, since the Heat are showing that they have a long-term plan to help keep Wade fresh for the most critical games.
- The Magic aren’t actively shopping for trades and they are especially not making Arron Afflalo available and have turned away calls for the guard, tweets Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. Orlando is high on Afflalo and it’s hard to see them moving him even as they look to build for the future.
- With several upcoming free agents, the Wizards should use this as an opportunity to rebuild with a more balanced roster, Kyler tweets.