The Hidden Value Of Brendan Haywood’s Contract
A 34-year-old backup center on the Hornets roster seems an odd selling point for the Cavs to use in their pitch to woo LeBron James back to Cleveland, but Brendan Haywood is reportedly one of the players the Cavs believe can help them win over the four-time MVP. It’s not because of any recruiting message Haywood might deliver to James. Rather, it’s because of a vestige of the amnesty provision that’s scarcely considered outside of NBA front offices.
The Hornets agreed on draft night to a trade that will send Haywood to the Cavs. It won’t be official until after the July moratorium, which runs through Wednesday. On the surface, the deal seems like a pedestrian exchange of the aging Haywood and 45th overall pick Dwight Powell for reserve small forward Alonzo Gee.
Haywood was in the middle of his ninth season with the Wizards in 2010 when they traded him to the Mavericks, who re-signed him that summer to a six-year deal worth more than $52MM. Dallas also traded for Tyson Chandler that same offseason, and when Chandler beat out Haywood for the starting job, Haywood’s deal quickly became an object of regret. The only saving grace about that contract for Dallas was that his salary for the final season, worth more than $10.5MM, was non-guaranteed. That wasn’t enough to save Haywood from the chopping block in 2012, when the Mavs used the amnesty clause to waive Haywood and clear the cap room necessary to sign Chris Kaman to a one-year, $8MM deal, another contract that didn’t pan out for Dallas.
The then-Bobcats, sensing an opportunity to acquire a serviceable player they might not be able to woo in free agency, since they had just compiled the league’s worst winning percentage of all time, submitted a claim for Haywood. Unlike regular waivers, amnesty waivers allow teams to make partial claims in which they essentially place bids on the player. The Bobcats entered either the highest bid or the only bid — whether they had competition remains unknown — and won the rights to Haywood for $6.15MM. That amount was spread over the three remaining seasons on the contract that were fully guaranteed. The Mavs would pay the rest of his guaranteed salary, but it wouldn’t count against their cap.
The final, non-guaranteed season remained untouched. Dallas isn’t on the hook for that money, and Charlotte would only be responsible for it if it kept him past his contract guarantee date, which is August 1st, 2015, according to Mark Deeks of ShamSports. That gave the then-Bobcats, or any team to which they traded Haywood, full control over the deal’s final season, which is 2015/16. It left an unbalanced contract on Charlotte’s books, with salaries in the neighborhood of $2MM for the first three post-amnesty seasons preceding a hefty leap to more than $10.5MM.
Haywood will almost certainly be waived before next August and never receive that $10.5MM. Still, after next year’s July moratorium, that salary would still count toward the league’s salary matching requirements if the Cavs, once they officially acquire him from Charlotte, were to flip him in another trade. Cleveland could bring in a player making as much as $5MM more than Haywood’s non-guaranteed 2015/16 salary, and the team that gives up such a player could waive Haywood and gain a chunk of cap space equal to that approximately $10.5MM salary. Therein lies the value of Haywood.
The rechristened Hornets aren’t in any position to attract James to their team, or any starry 2015 free agent like Kevin Love or Rajon Rondo, the presence of owner Michael Jordan notwithstanding. For them, the trade will net immediate cap flexibility, since Gee’s $3MM salary is non-guaranteed for 2014/15, whereas Haywood’s salary is guaranteed for this coming season.
Haywood would still have been valuable to the Hornets, who could have traded his deal to acquire a high-dollar player next summer. But it’s even more valuable to the Cavs, who can use it to show another high-dollar player — LeBron — that they have the capability to surround him with game-changing talent.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
And-Ones: Union, Celtics, Blatche, Diawara
The players union is worried that teams like the Heat are trying to strong-arm players into making financial sacrifices by triggering hard caps with the use of the non-taxpayer’s mid-level and bi-annual exceptions, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe explains. Clubs can’t exceed the tax apron, the line $4MM above the tax threshold, if they use either the larger mid-level or the bi-annual. Ron Klempner, the interim executive director for the union, argues that such teams can eschew those exceptions and find ways that don’t trigger a hard cap to accommodate contracts for the players they want.
“Teams are being exposed for what they are doing,” Klempner told Lowe. “It has been laid bare. They are hiding behind the rules. Teams like the Heat have the ability to bring back all their players, and give them raises, but they are choosing to go in another direction.”
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Celtics remain on the lookout for players who will appeal to the Wolves in hopes that Minnesota will agree to a deal that sends Kevin Love to Boston, as Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe details.
- The Raptors will meet Wednesday with free agent Andray Blatche, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
- Former NBA swingman Yakhouba Diawara is working out for the Raptors today in hopes of a comeback, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
- Sixers second-round pick Vasilije Micic is staying overseas and won’t sign with Philadelphia for this season, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Micic went 52nd overall last month.
- Janis Timma, the 60th pick in last year’s draft, will also stay overseas this coming season rather than sign with the Grizzlies, who hold his rights, as Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal writes in a subscription-only piece.
- The Jazz, Rockets and Warriors all recently auditioned Tyler Honeycutt, but the former Kings small forward has signed a two-year deal with Russia’s Khimki Moscow, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
Raptors CEO On Carter, Nash, Title Aspirations
Tim Leiweke, CEO of the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment group that owns the Raptors, believes the franchise is poised for a “growth spurt” with the unique advantage of having an entire country behind it, as he tells USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt. Leiweke points to the team’s willingness to spend, the acumen of GM Masai Ujiri, and the organization’s commitment to competing for championships as selling points for free agents. He also speaks about the effect that former Raptors star Vince Carter had on Canadian basketball, remarks made all the more interesting by Carter’s status as a free agent and reports indicating that the team is in the mix to sign him. Zillgitt’s entire piece is a must read for Raptors fans, but we’ll share a few particularly relevant snippets here:
On Vince Carter and his influence on back-to-back No. 1 overall picks Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins, both of whom are Canadians:
“That is Vince Carter. I give him an enormous amount of credit. That [Raptors] team and that era is the era that is beginning to produce the Wigginses, the Bennetts. He inspired those kids to play basketball at the highest level. Now we get a chance to do that with our era, but we won’t see the results of that for another 10 years.”
On Steve Nash:
“There are probably few people who admire and like Steve Nash like I do. I had the privilege of getting to know him when he came to the Lakers. I love Steve Nash. I hope whenever his career ends, and I hope it’s not today, I hope a great player like that gets to go out on a high. That said, I definitely would hope there’s day in time where Steve Nash is playing a role here somehow.”
On the team’s Atlantic Division title this season, which it celebrated with the hanging of a banner:
“Personally, I wouldn’t have done the banner. They didn’t ask me, but if they did I would’ve told them that doesn’t mean anything. I don’t go in the locker room and congratulate the guys because we haven’t done anything yet. Our guys know that. It’s not that I don’t love our guys and I won’t fight for them. But we haven’t done anything yet. I don’t understand why everyone’s happy. We have work to do here. For me, are we on the right path? Yes. Do we have a chance to do something great? Yes. Talk to me when we do it. I’m not happy. Masai’s not happy.”
Timberwolves Sign Zach LaVine
2:06pm: The Wolves have officially signed LaVine, the team announced (Twitter link).
11:28am: LaVine indeed signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, Wolfson tweets.
11:16am: No. 13 overall pick Zach LaVine has signed his rookie scale contract with the Wolves, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). He’s likely receiving nearly $2.056MM for the coming season, assuming he signed for the standard 120% of the rookie scale, as our table of salaries for this year’s first-round picks shows.
There were conflicting reports that Minnesota had given LaVine a promise that they would select him 13th, though the 6’6″ UCLA shooting guard wound up with the Wolves regardless of whether it was preordained. He was one of three players from his school to go in this year’s first round, as Jordan Adams followed at No. 22 to the Grizzlies and the Spurs spent the 30th pick on Kyle Anderson.
LaVine, 19, averaged 9.4 points and shot 37.5% from three-point range in 24.4 minutes per game during his freshman season with the Bruins this year. He’s a raw prospect who’ll require patience from the Wolves, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors detailed.
2014 Draft Pick Signings
Teams commonly show their newly minted draft picks off to the public in the days following the event, even going to the trouble of printing up jerseys for them to hold for the cameras. Yet unlike free agency, when such displays only happen after contracts are officially signed, most teams wait a while to finalize their deals with draft picks. In some cases, the players never wind up wearing those jerseys in a game, and that’s especially true of second-rounders.
Still, most first-rounders ending up signing at some point, and the predetermined rookie scale contracts they sign eliminate most of the negotiation. I recently ran down the likely salary for each first-round pick, and that’s what the first-rounders with “signed” by their names are getting, unless otherwise noted. There’s no scale for second-rounders, so they wind up signing deals of varying structure and worth. As we update this post throughout the offseason, you’ll see details on the contracts for each second-rounder who signs with his NBA club.
Each player is listed next to the team that holds his rights, which isn’t necessarily the team that drafted him, since so many picks change hands on draft night. We’ll update this post whenever there’s news of a signing, and you’ll be able to find a link to it under the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar so you can keep up to date throughout the summer.
First Round
- Cavaliers: Andrew Wiggins — signed
- Bucks: Jabari Parker — signed
- Sixers: Joel Embiid — signed
- Magic: Aaron Gordon — signed
- Jazz: Dante Exum — signed
- Celtics: Marcus Smart — signed
- Lakers: Julius Randle — signed
- Kings: Nik Stauskas — signed
- Hornets: Noah Vonleh — signed
- Magic: Elfrid Payton — signed
- Bulls: Doug McDermott — signed
- Sixers: Dario Saric — playing overseas
- Timberwolves: Zach LaVine — signed
- Suns: T.J. Warren — signed
- Hawks: Adreian Payne — signed
- Nuggets: Jusuf Nurkic — signed
- Celtics: James Young — signed
- Suns: Tyler Ennis — signed
- Nuggets: Gary Harris — signed
- Raptors: Bruno Caboclo — signed
- Thunder: Mitch McGary — signed
- Grizzlies: Jordan Adams — signed
- Jazz: Rodney Hood — signed
- Heat: Shabazz Napier — signed
- Rockets: Clint Capela — signed
- Hornets: P.J. Hairston — signed
- Suns: Bogdan Bogdanovic — playing overseas
- Clippers: C.J. Wilcox — signed
- Thunder: Josh Huestis — agreed to sign with the D-League
- Spurs: Kyle Anderson — signed
Second Round
- Bucks: Damien Inglis — signed to a three-year, $2,650,431 deal
- Sixers: K.J. McDaniels — signed to a one-year deal for the minimum salary
- Cavaliers: Joe Harris — signed to a three-year, $2,710,369 deal
- Knicks: Cleanthony Early — signed to a minimum-salary deal
- Grizzlies: Jarnell Stokes — signed to a three-year, $2,550,490 deal
- Bucks: Johnny O’Bryant III — signed to a three-year, $2,425,490 deal
- Raptors: DeAndre Daniels — playing overseas
- Pistons: Spencer Dinwiddie — signed to a three-year, $2,525,490 deal
- Sixers: Jerami Grant — signed to a four-year, $3,761,614 deal
- Timberwolves: Glenn Robinson III — signed to a one-year deal for the minimum salary
- Nuggets: Nikola Jokic — playing overseas
- Rockets: Nick Johnson — signed to a fully guaranteed three-year minimum-salary deal
- Hawks: Walter Tavares — playing overseas
- Nets: Markel Brown — signed to two-year deal for the minimum salary
- Cavaliers: Dwight Powell — signed to a two-year deal for the minimum salary
- Lakers: Jordan Clarkson — signed to a two-year deal for the minimum salary
- Pelicans: Russ Smith — signed to a three-year deal for the minimum salary
- Hawks: Lamar Patterson — playing overseas
- Bulls: Cameron Bairstow — signed to a three-year deal for the minimum salary
- Suns: Alec Brown — unsigned
- Knicks: Thanasis Antetokounmpo — agreed to sign with the D-League
- Sixers: Vasilije Micic — playing overseas
- Rockets: Alessandro Gentile — playing overseas
- Spurs: Nemanja Dangubic — playing overseas
- Thunder: Semaj Christon — agreed to sign with the D-League
- Magic: Devyn Marble — signed to a three-year, $2,710,369 deal
- Knicks: Louis Labeyrie — playing overseas
- Sixers: Jordan McRae — playing overseas
- Nets: Xavier Thames — playing overseas
- Nets: Cory Jefferson —signed to a two-year deal for the minimum salary
Grizzlies To Invite Wilbekin, White To Camp
The Grizzlies will invite Scottie Wilbekin and Okaro White to training camp, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, who writes in a subscription-only piece. White, a forward from Florida State, and Wilbekin, a point guard from Florida, both went undrafted last month. It doesn’t appear as though either stands much of a chance of making the team’s opening night roster, as Tillery says the Grizzlies’ hopes involve the pair winding up with their D-League affiliate, but it sounds like they’ll at least receive the opportunity.
Wilbekin was the 50th-ranked senior on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings, while White checked in at No. 67. Both are on the Grizzlies summer league roster for this week in Orlando, while Wilbekin will also suit up for the Sixers in the Las Vegas summer league.
If both accept the invitations and sign summer contracts, they’d be on non-guaranteed minimum-salary deals that wouldn’t count against the cap unless they made the opening night roster. NBA teams can reserve the D-League rights of three players who fail to make the cut out of training camp each fall, and it seems Memphis has two such slots earmarked for the Sunshine State duo.
Knicks, Sixers Discussing Stoudemire
10:23am: Hardaway’s name has come up in talks regarding Stoudemire, but the Knicks remain disinclined to include the guard in any trades, a source tells Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com.
8:47pm: Jackson has contacted the Sixers attempting to unload Stoudemire’s contract, but Philly wants an asset in return for absorbing the bloated deal, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. Berman thinks the inclusion of Iman Shumpert might get the deal done, but New York would prefer to retain the young guard. Contradicting earlier reports, Berman also hears Jackson would like to hang on to Bargnani this season since he thinks the sharp shooting center could excel in the triangle offense.
2:26pm: The Knicks are actively shopping Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani as they attempt to find trade partners willing to provide the team the cap space necessary to make significant free agent acquisitions, reports Moke Hamilton of SNY.tv. Knicks president Phil Jackson turned down an offer for Bargnani and Tim Hardaway Jr. before the Tyson Chandler trade, confident that he could find a deal involving Bargnani that wouldn’t force the team to part with Hardaway, according to Hamilton.
New York is trying to open up roughly $40MM in cap flexibility to re-sign Carmelo Anthony and build around him, and that’s been part of Jackson’s pitch to the star forward, Hamilton writes. Stoudemire is set to make $23.4MM for the coming season while Bargnani is in line for $11.5MM after they both opted in for 2014/15. Clearing Stoudemire’s salary without receiving salary in return would instantly give the Knicks the kind of flexibility they’re after, but such a trade is unlikely to surface. Bargnani would also be difficult to move, but less so.
Trading one or both of them in a deal that nets cap flexibility would also help the Knicks if they don’t re-sign Anthony. New York would still be capped out if ‘Melo signs elsewhere, which would leave the Knicks with only the $5.305MM mid-level exception as their most significant tool on the free agent market.
Eastern Notes: Love, Rondo, Stephenson
The Celtics and Timberwolves haven’t spoken in more than a week about a Kevin Love trade, two sources tell Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. Three GMs tell Bulpett that if the Celtics changed gears and attempted to trade Rajon Rondo, they would have a hard time finding full value for him on the trade market at present, though it’s unclear precisely why. There’s more on the C’s from Bulpett’s piece amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- The Celtics have yet to contact Lance Stephenson or agent Alberto Ebanks, according to Bulpett, despite Monday’s report that the C’s had interest.
- The Hornets and Wizards are the front-runners for Kris Humphries while the Celtics seem like they’re removing themselves from the pursuit, a source tells Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
- A source tells Ben Standig of CSNWashington.com that Garrett Temple isn’t weighing any offer from the Heat. A Monday report indicated that the point guard was leaning toward signing with Miami.
- The Pistons have jumped into the running for Brian Roberts, tweets Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, who reiterates his earlier report that the Grizzlies are interested, too.
- The Heat‘s path to signing Carmelo Anthony would be complex and hard to configure financially, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com details, while Mark Deeks of ShamSports, writing for Hoop365, outlines a much more palatable scenario that lands ‘Melo with the Bulls.
- The Knicks have officially named Kurt Rambis as the team’s lead assistant coach, the team announced. Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com first reported the deal, and Marc Berman of the New York Post reported that the Knicks offered four years at an annual salary of $1.2MM to lure him from his job as a Lakers assistant coach.
Knicks Fear That ‘Melo Eyes Pairing With LeBron
There’s a growing belief within the Knicks organization that Carmelo Anthony is hesitating to make his decision while the possibility of joining LeBron James on either the Heat or the Lakers still exists, writes Marc Berman of the New York Post. That’s similar to the notion that ‘Melo is holding out to see if Chris Bosh signs with the Rockets and helps clear the path for Anthony to join James on the Heat, an idea that representatives from five teams raised to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). In any case, there seems to be a sense of unease coming from the Knicks, as some within the team expected ‘Melo would have made his call on where to sign by Monday, Stein tweets.
It nonetheless seems unlikely that Anthony and James will pair up. Bosh’s preference is reportedly to remain in Miami with James, so a scenario in which Bosh would vacate Miami while James would stay seems especially far-fetched. Still, Anthony seemed on Monday to be “torn,” as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News wrote, casting the Knicks, Bulls and Lakers as front-runners for the high-scoring forward. The Rockets and Mavs aren’t completely out of the running, according to Isola, but the Rockets believe Anthony won’t accept their max contract offer, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com.
The Knicks and Lakers have reportedly made max offers to Anthony as well, though Knicks president Phil Jackson is still encouraging him to take less, as Berman writes. The capped-out Bulls would likely end up having to give ‘Melo significantly less than the max, even if they made a series of moves to open up cap room.
And-Ones: Bosh, Rockets, ‘Melo, Thunder
Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski told FOX Sports 1 that Chris Bosh told the Rockets something that they don’t want to hear: “I want to be in Miami, I want to play with LeBron [James],” (link via Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders). More from around the league..
- Carmelo Anthony is “torn” over where to spend the prime years of his career, a friend of the Knicks All Star forward tells Frank Isola of the Daily News. Anthony, 30, is still debating his next move with the Knicks, Lakers, and Bulls as his top three choices, the source claims.
- The Knicks are feeling uneasy about the Melo situation, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears. Meanwhile, the Bulls are encouraged by his indecisiveness, writes Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks met today with Pau Gasol, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
- In his introductory press conference, new Nets coach Lionel Hollins presented himself as a very different man than Jason Kidd, writes Mitch Abramson of the Daily News.
- A bunch of teams, including the Warriors, concluded early after July 1st that Channing Frye would get more than the mid-level exception, tweets Zach Lowe of Grantland. However, teams didn’t expect him to land with the Magic. Frye is set to ink a four-year, $32MM pact with Orlando.
- Kobe Bryant is recruiting Steve Blake and Caron Butler to the Lakers, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
- Blazers point guard Mo Williams is scheduled to meet with the Mavericks tomorrow, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).