2015/16 Salary Commitments: Warriors
With the NBA trade deadline passed, teams are focusing on locking down playoff spots or vying for a better chance in the draft lottery. Outside of the players who are added on 10-day deals, or those lucky enough to turn those auditions into long-term contracts, teams’ rosters are relatively set for the remainder of the season.
We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in somewhere around $67.4MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.
We’ll continue onward by taking a look at the Warriors’ cap outlook for 2015/16…
Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:
- Harrison Barnes — $3,873,398
- Andrew Bogut — $12MM
- Stephen Curry — $11,370,786
- Festus Ezeli — $2,008,748
- Andre Iguodala — $11,710,456
- David Lee — $15,493,680
- Shaun Livingston — $5,543,725
- Klay Thompson — $15,501,000
Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:
- James Michael McAdoo — $845,059 ($100K Guaranteed)
Players with options:
- Brandon Rush (Player Option) — $1,270,964
- Marreese Speights (Team Option) — $3,815,000
The Warriors’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:
- Guaranteed Salary: $77,601,793
- Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $5,831,023
- Total: $83,432,816
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Southwest Notes: Smith, Howard, Mavs
The rash of injuries that have befallen the Rockets could force the team to push injured center Dwight Howard to return to action sooner than anticipated, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “We are so down on bodies and we don’t have a lot of practice time,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We might have to start throwing him out there and letting him get some minutes in the game, whether he starts out 15-20 minutes and getting game time. But he has to start playing here pretty soon because otherwise the season is just going to go by and you can’t wait for the playoffs to come back, so we’ll see.” Howard has been out since early February with an injured right knee.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Grizzlies re-assigned Russ Smith to the Iowa Energy, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the sixth trek of the season to the D-League for Smith.
- Monta Ellis and Rajon Rondo don’t appear to be a good backcourt pairing for the Mavs, which is something that the team will need to consider this summer, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. Rondo is set to become an unrestricted free agent and Ellis has a player option worth $8.72MM that he can opt out of.
- Marc Gasol sounds like a player who is intent on remaining with the Grizzlies, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (subscription required) writes. “I don’t know what factors are going to play into my decision. But you can’t change the past,” Gasol said. “You can’t change where I’ve been for the majority of my life as an adult. My family has been tied to the franchise since the franchise has been in Memphis. You can’t change that. I don’t know what the future holds but I know what the past and the present is. That’s pretty clear.” Gasol will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Western Notes: D-League, Jazz, Dubljevic
The Jazz have officially acquired the Idaho Stampede, becoming the eighth NBA team to fully own and operate their own D-League franchise, the team announced. The Stampede have also signed a one-year contract extension with the downtown arena and will continue to play in Boise, Idaho for the 2015/16 season. “Our purchase of an NBA D-League team reflects the value we place on having an exclusive affiliate for player development and building the scope of our basketball operations to support the Jazz,” said Jazz president Randy Rigby. “It is a tremendous commitment from the Miller family to make this acquisition that will contribute to our pursuit of becoming a championship-caliber team.” Idaho was already Utah’s affiliate, but now the Jazz will control both the basketball operations and business sides of the D-League franchise.
Here’s more from Utah:
- Greg Miller, the former CEO of the Miller Management Corporation that controls the Jazz, believes that Utah has a bright future, Mike Sorensen of The Deseret News writes. Miller ended his seven-year tenure as CEO earlier this month. “Everywhere I go people want to talk about the Jazz and I tell them we are in a period where when we look back on it, we’ll say that this was the beginning of a very special era,’’ Miller said.
- Bojan Dubljevic, whose rights are owned by the Timberwolves, will be with Valencia of the Euroleague for at least the next two seasons without the possibility of arranging a buyout, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities reports (Twitter link). The forward was selected by Minnesota with the No. 59 overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft.
- Utah had an option in its contract with the Stampede, giving the Jazz the ability to buy the D-League team, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets. Utah was interested in purchasing Idaho at start of this season, Zillgitt adds.
Eastern Notes: Young, Price, Robinson
Thomas Robinson is making a strong case that he should be a part of the Sixers‘ future plans, Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News writes. “I’ve never played this much before and never played this consistently, so this is my first time getting an opportunity,” Robinson said. “You always want that momentum. This time of the year, it’s hard mentally when you know you’re not playing for anything. Us, in this locker room, we want to go out with momentum and know that we’re getting better, and we’ll go into the summer where we’ll know that we have a platform to start on. That’s all that really matters right now.”
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- The Celtics have assigned James Young to the Maine Red Claws, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Young’s eleventh trek of the season to Maine. The swingman has appeared in 11 contests for the Red Claws this season and is averaging 22.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in 33.2 minutes per game.
- Thabo Sefolosha is expected to make his return to the Hawks‘ lineup on Wednesday night against the Magic, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports tweets. Sefolosha has been sidelined since January 30th with a calf injury.
- Hornets assistant coach Mark Price has been offered the head coaching position at UNC Charlotte, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com reports. Sources told Goodman that Price has been offered a five-year deal and is mulling whether or not to accept it.
Pacific Notes: Casspi, Scott, Warriors
Omri Casspi has seen an encouraging change in the Kings organization since George Karl took over as head coach, Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee writes. Casspi, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, says he absolutely wants to re-sign with Sacramento this summer, Voisin adds. “I want to come back here so badly,” Casspi said. “I love the community and I feel like the team is finally moving in the right direction. George Karl’s system is great, and I’m not just saying that because I play for him, but because I really do believe this is the right way to play basketball. Spacing the floor. Moving, making extra passes, sharing the ball. Getting our hands on balls, deflections, then getting out and running. Unfortunately, coach Karl has not had a lot of time to teach us everything, but these last two games, you can see what we can become.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Despite the Lakers‘ 18-50 record on the season coach Byron Scott has the approval of GM Mitch Kupchak, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. “He said I’ve been doing a great job in getting all these guys to play hard every night,” Scott said. “With all the injuries that we’ve had and to be in the games that we’ve been in, he thinks I’ve done a terrific job.”
- Scott also said that Kupchak reiterated that the team is still in a rebuilding phase and that the process would continue during the 2015 offseason, Medina adds. “We’re still on the right course and still sticking to what we talked about,” Scott said. “All of the things we talked about before they hired me and all the things we talked about since they hired me hasn’t changed.”
- The Warriors took an unconventional and roundabout path in their rebuilding efforts, Tom Ziller of SB Nation writes in his look at the team’s success this season.
The Rarity Of Team Options
People around the NBA often use the term “team option” in reference to a year that’s covered by non-guaranteed salary, but there are key differences. Front offices have to make decisions on a team option for a season before the July 1st preceding that season, but they can wait until opening night to make a decision on a player with a non-guaranteed season without having to shell out any salary, and until the leaguewide guarantee date in January without having to pony up the full salary. Partial guarantees mitigate this advantage to some degree, and contracts often have specific dates well in advance of the leaguewide guarantee date that specify a full or partial amount must be paid to the player if he remains under contract. Still, those deals are almost always more flexible than team options, which helps explains why team options are as rare as they are.
All rookie scale contracts, by rule, include two team options for the final season, and the decision on each is due a year ahead of time. Only five non-rookie scale contracts include team options for next season. A few more are on the books for 2016/17 and 2017/18. Some of them involve salary that’s non-guaranteed as well, since the collective bargaining agreement allows team option years to remain non-guaranteed even after the option is exercised. Thus, some executives have found value in signing second-round picks and undrafted rookies to four-year deals that include dual team options and non-guaranteed salary for the fourth year. That gives teams the choice of making the player a restricted free agent after year three or an unrestricted free agent after year four, as I examined a while back. That strategy backfired this past summer for the Rockets, who declined their team option on Chandler Parsons to make him a restricted free agent only to watch him sign an offer sheet for nearly the maximum salary.
Still, others, most notably the Sixers and GM Sam Hinkie, continue to sign similar deals. And occasionally, front offices will consent to team options for veteran talent, perhaps because their agents push to avoid the threat of a release without pay hanging over their clients for months. Perhaps that’s why Michael Beasley emerged with a team option on his multiyear deal with the Heat, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reported last week.
Here’s a look at the five players with team options for next season, in descending order of value.
- Jordan Hill (Lakers), $9MM
- Timofey Mozgov (Cavaliers), $4.95MM
- Kostas Papanikolaou (Rockets), $4.798MM — also non-guaranteed
- Marreese Speights (Warriors), $3.815MM
- Michael Beasley (Heat), $1.271MM
And here are those with team options for future seasons, in descending order of value:
- Lance Stephenson (Hornets), $9.405MM — 2016/17
- Furkan Aldemir (Sixers), $2.81MM — 2017/18, also non-guaranteed
- Damjan Rudez (Pacers), $1.199MM — 2016/17
- Robert Covington (Sixers), $1.088MM — 2017/18, also non-guaranteed
- Jerami Grant (Sixers), $1.051MM — 2017/18, also non-guaranteed
- JaKarr Sampson (Sixers), $1.051MM — 2017/18, also non-guaranteed
- Mike Muscala (Hawks), $1.016MM — 2016/17, also non-guaranteed
- Hollis Thompson (Sixers), $1.016MM — 2016/17, also non-guaranteed
The Basketball Insiders salary pages and RealGM were used in the creation of this post.
Central Notes: Love, Mozgov, Bulls, Bucks
No one involved in the process believes Kevin Love will pick up his $16.744MM player option to remain with the Cavaliers as he’s said he plans to do, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Love nonetheless spoke of a strong camaraderie amongst the Cavs to Ananth Pandian of CBSSports.com, countering a narrative that he’s not getting along with his teammates, an idea that Love seemed to stoke when he said his relationship with LeBron James and other Cavs could be better. Rumors surrounding the No. 2 free agent on the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings have intensified, and Michael Rand of the Star Tribune wonders if Cleveland, like Minnesota, will be in the power forward’s past soon. Here’s more from around the Central Division:
- The Timofey Mozgov trade has worked out splendidly for Mozgov, whose offensive numbers are up, and for the Cavs, who’ve taken off since the deal, as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio examines. Cleveland has a $4.95MM team option on Mozgov for next season. “When we made the trade, everything that he brought is what we needed and wanted,” James said. “He’s going to be huge for our team. Very, very skilled offensively and understands defensively. He’s just a smart basketball player and it’s great playing with him.“
- Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler, a pair of late-first-round picks from 2011, are playing key roles for the Bulls, and trading for the rights to Mirotic took particular effort, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune details. “We were bidding against somebody,” Bulls GM Gar Forman said. “Significant money was being laid out. And that’s when [owner Jerry Reinsdorf] really stepped up and included a good chunk of money to make that happen.”
- No team surged higher from last year’s ESPN Insider Front Office Rankings to this year’s than the Bucks, who jumped from 29th to 15th. Chad Ford of ESPN.com, in another Insider-only piece, credits the work of assistant GM David Morway, who joined the team in the summer of 2013, for having been instrumental in the rise.
Where Players Who Signed In China Are Now
Metta World Peace, who signed Monday night to play in Italy following his Chinese stint earlier this year, is not alone among players with NBA experience who are shaking free from China, now that the Chinese Basketball Association season is over. Nearly two dozen players appeared in the CBA this season who were on an NBA regular season roster either this season or last. Some, like Michael Beasley, have found homes in the NBA again, while others are still trying to make their way back to the league. Here’s what’s happening with each:
- Jeff Adrien — Guangdong Southern — free agent
- Andray Blatche, Xinjiang Guanghui — re-signed with Xinjiang to three-year deal
- Michael Beasley, Shanghai Dongfang — signed pair of 10-day contracts followed by a multiyear deal with the Heat
- Dwight Buycks, Tianjin Ronggang — signed to play in the D-League; Thunder affiliate claimed his rights
- Will Bynum, Guangdong Southern — free agent
- Earl Clark, Shandong — free agent
- Jordan Crawford, Xinjiang Guanghui — signed to play in the D-League; Fort Wayne Mad Ants claimed his rights
- Toney Douglas, Jiangsu Nangang — signed pair of 10-day contracts followed by a deal for the rest of the season with the Pelicans
- Jamaal Franklin, Zhejiang Guangsha — signed to play in the D-League; Lakers affiliate claimed his rights
- Mike Harris, Qingdao — free agent
- Bernard James, Shanghai Dongfang — signed pair of 10-day contracts followed by a deal for the rest of the season with the Mavericks
- Slava Kravtsov, Guangdong Foshan — free agent
- Josh Harrellson, ChongQuing AoLong — signed to play in Puerto Rico
- John Lucas III, Fujian — signed pair of 10-day contracts followed by a deal for the rest of the season with the Pistons
- Arnett Moultrie, Jiangsu Nangang — free agent
- Kevin Murphy, Zhejiang Guangsha — returned to D-League to play for Jazz affiliate; traded to Pistons affiliate
- Miroslav Raduljica, Shandong — signed pair of 10-day contracts with Timberwolves
- Chris Singleton, Jiangsu Nangang — signed to play in the D-League; Thunder affiliate claimed his rights
- Daniel Orton, Sichuan — signed to play in Philippines, later signed to play in D-League; Pistons affiliate claimed his rights
- Sebastian Telfair, Xinjiang Guanghui — free agent
- Jeremy Tyler, Shanxi Zhongyu — free agent
- DJ White, Fujian — free agent
- Metta World Peace, Sichuan — signed to play in Italy for Pallacanestro Cantù
Suns Notes: Trades, Thomas, Knight, Dragic
Most executives from other teams around the league said they wouldn’t have given up Isaiah Thomas and the Lakers’ protected first-rounder for what the Suns acquired in return at the deadline, according to Grantland’s Zach Lowe. Phoenix ended up with Brandon Knight, Marcus Thornton and Cleveland’s 2016 top-10 protected first-round pick, as our trade deadline recap shows.
“Everybody loves the L.A. pick,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough told Lowe. “The concept of a pick is great, but it’s more of a sure thing to get a 23-year-old who is a borderline All-Star in the East.”
That 23-year-old is Knight, the soon-to-be restricted free agent whom the Bucks declined to trade straight-up for the Lakers pick, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com first reported and as Lowe reiterates. There are conflicting reports about whether Milwaukee turned down a Knight-for-Goran Dragic offer from the Suns, but several league sources tell Lowe that the Bucks indeed rejected such an offer. Lowe and others have plenty more from Phoenix:
- Suns coach Jeff Hornacek insisted to Lowe that the idea behind collecting Dragic, Thomas and Eric Bledsoe on the same roster before the season was to afford all three of them rest so they’d be fresh for the playoffs, as Lowe relays in the same piece.
- The Suns won’t spend money for the sake of spending it in free agency this summer, McDonough tells Lowe, who nonetheless believes it’s imperative that the Suns make the most of the additional cap flexibility that their deadline deals created.
- Steve Nash‘s retirement underscores just how well the Suns made out in the 2012 sign-and-trade that sent him to the Lakers, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines. Knight is the primary asset that the Suns snagged thanks to what they gained in the deal, Coro points out, though president of basketball operations Lon Babby believes there was a subtle cost that lingers. “It was among the most difficult, if not the most difficult, decisions we’ve had to make since I’ve been here…” Babby said of letting Nash go. “We made the right decision. I’m just disappointed it didn’t work out better for [Nash]. He defined our culture. To be honest about it, when you assess a trade like that, we gave up intangibles that we’re still trying to replace.”
Pelicans Re-Sign Toney Douglas For Season
TUESDAY, 10:02am: The deal is official, the team announced.
MONDAY, 8:05pm: The Pelicans have signed Toney Douglas for the remainder of the season, a source told Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). The team has not made an official announcement.
Douglas was released last month by the club after he was signed to two 10-day contracts, though he did not finish out his second 10-day deal. Douglas appeared in three games for New Orleans in February, averaging 9.0 points, 4.0 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 22.0 minutes per game.
The Pelicans have been trying to get by without starting point guard Jrue Holiday for an extended period. Holiday has been sidelined since January 12 with a right leg injury. Tyreke Evans, who has run the point in Holiday’s absence, has been dealing with a sore ankle.
The Pelicans have an open roster spot and will gain another when Elliot Williams‘ 10-day contract expires overnight. Douglas had been playing in China earlier this season before New Orleans brought him in. He played a total of 58 games for the Warriors and Heat last season. The Pelicans also signed another point guard, Nate Wolters, to two 10-day contracts this season but opted not to sign him for the remainder of the season.