And-Ones: Roberts, NBPA, Stuckey, 2019 Free Agency
Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, has repeatedly dismissed the idea that the NBPA should have accepted the league’s cap-smoothing proposal prior to the 2016 offseason, and she doubled down on that stance in a recent conversation with Kevin Draper of The New York Times. Roberts zeroed in on the theory that the lack of cap smoothing has helped create a perceived competitive imbalance, led by the defending-champion Warriors.
“I have been amused by the chatter suggesting that smoothing — or more accurately the failure to smooth — has now become some folks’ boogeyman de jure,” Roberts wrote in an email. “While we haven’t yet blamed it for the assassination of MLK, some are now suggesting that it is responsible for all that is presumably wrong with today’s NBA. Needless to say, I beg to differ.”
Roberts also refuted the notion that the cap spike in 2016 (when the cap rose from $70MM to $94MM) and the slower growth since then resulted in an unusually poor market for free agents in 2018: “We opened free agency with nine teams that had significant cap room, in excess of $10MM each. Frankly, before the spike, that’s about as healthy of a start as we’ve ever had.”
Finally, Roberts insisted that players shouldn’t be blamed for contracts from 2016 that are now viewed as overpays: “I get that there are folks who believe that some of the contracts executed post the smoothing rejection were too large. I vehemently disagree as I am sure do the players that negotiated those contracts. However, if that’s the beef folks have, take it up with the GMs that negotiated them. The argument that we gave teams too much money to play with is preposterous.”
While it’s hard to argue that a lack of cap-smoothing in 2016 had a major impact on several franchises – including the Warriors, who suddenly had the cap room necessary to afford Kevin Durant – Roberts is right that certain GMs deserve the blame for how they reacted to the sudden cap spike. If some of those teams had preserved their cap room instead of using it to sign mediocre players to oversized contracts, the NBA landscape could look much different today.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Speaking of Roberts, she was unanimously elected to another four-year term as the executive director of the players’ union, Chris Paul confirmed this week (Twitter link via Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post).
- Earlier today, we noted that Rodney Stuckey was holding a private workout in Las Vegas as he seeks a new NBA home. According to international basketball reporter David Pick (Twitter link), the Warriors, Nets, Grizzlies, Spurs, and Pacers had representatives at that session.
- With several teams around the NBA looking to create cap room for 2019, and many of this year’s free agents signing one-year deals to hit the market again in a year, next summer’s NBA offseason could be a wild one. ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) previews 2019’s free agent period, identifying the top free-agents-to-be and the teams that will have the most flexibility.
- In an interesting piece for HoopsHype, Alex Kennedy talks to a number of current and former NBA players about their experiences in free agency, relaying some horror stories about agents and team executives alike.
Bulls Waive Sean Kilpatrick
The Bulls have waived veteran guard Sean Kilpatrick, the team announced today (via Twitter). The club now has 14 players under contract, not counting restricted free agents David Nwaba or Ryan Arcidiacono.
Kilpatrick, 28, had an eventful 2017/18 campaign. After starting the season with the Nets, he was waived by Brooklyn and signed a two-way contract with the Bucks. Milwaukee converted his two-way deal to a standard NBA contract in January, then waived him in March. Kilpatrick subsequently inked a pair of 10-day contracts with the Clippers before finally joining the Bulls on a multiyear contract.
In 52 total games with four teams last season, Kilpatrick averaged 6.3 PPG and 1.7 RPG in 12.3 minutes per contest. He was at his best in Chicago, posting 15.4 PPG on .439/.396/.813 shooting in nine games with the Bulls, but it seems that wasn’t enough to earn him a roster spot for 2018/19.
Kilpatrick’s $2MM+ salary for 2018/19 was non-guaranteed, so Chicago won’t be on the hook for any of it. However, the Bulls – who were under the salary floor for 2017/18 when they signed him – paid the well-traveled guard a generous $2.16MM salary for nine games last season.
With Kilpatrick no longer on their books, the Bulls can create up to nearly $16MM in cap space for 2018/19 by renouncing various exceptions and Noah Vonleh’s cap hold. That figure could increase to approximately $19MM if the club waives its other non-guaranteed players (Julyan Stone and Paul Zipser), even with Nwaba’s qualifying offer still on the cap.
Community Shootaround: Available Restricted Free Agents
NBA restricted free agency can be a double-edged sword — this summer, for instance, it has been beneficial for players like Aaron Gordon, Zach LaVine, and Dante Exum, who have each signed player-friendly deals that don’t look much different than contracts they might have earned as unrestricted free agents.
For other players though, the lack of leverage in restricted free agency creates tough decisions. Those players may have to choose between settling for a multi-year offer lower than what they believe they’re worth, or signing their one-year qualifying offer in the hopes of securing a better offer as an unrestricted free agent in 2019.
Clint Capela (Rockets), Marcus Smart (Celtics), Jabari Parker (Bucks), and Rodney Hood (Cavaliers) are among the big-name restricted free agents still on the board, with Montrezl Harrell (Clippers), Yogi Ferrell (Mavericks), David Nwaba (Bulls), and Patrick McCaw (Warriors) also still unsigned.
There’s a sense that if any one of those players signed an offer sheet within reason, his current team would match it. But those clubs may not be eager to negotiate directly and risk bidding against themselves — they’d rather let the market set the price for those restricted free agents. But with only a small handful of teams still able to offer more than the mid-level exception to free agents, the market simply hasn’t developed for some of these players.
While things may look bleak for a few restricted free agents on July 12, we expect all of them to be back under contract by October 12. So we want to know how you think some of these contract situations will be resolved.
Will the Rockets, Celtics, Bucks, or Cavaliers negotiate long-term deals with their restricted free agents? Will any of the teams with substantial cap room – the Hawks, Kings, Bulls, and Nets – make a play for one of the available RFAs?
Will anyone sign his qualifying offer with an eye toward unrestricted free agency in 2019? Do you foresee any major negotiating missteps for any of this year’s RFAs, like Nerlens Noel turning down a $70MM offer in 2017?
Jump into the comment section below to weigh on 2018’s remaining RFAs!
Free Agent Rumors: Knicks, Reed, Smart, Stuckey
Although the Knicks are currently carrying 16 players on NBA contracts, the team hasn’t closed the door on the possibility of signing another free agent before training camp gets underway. As Ian Begley of ESPN.com details, members of the Knicks organization have been in contact regarding free agent big man Willie Reed this month.
Begley cautions that it’s not clear whether the Knicks had – or still have – “serious” interest in Reed, so it’s possible that nothing will come of the club’s inquiries. If New York does sign Reed or another free agent though, the team would eventually have to trade or waive at least two players currently under contract. Joakim Noah, Ron Baker, and Troy Williams could be at risk in a potential roster crunch.
Here are a few more notes and rumors on free agency:
- While it’s possible that Marcus Smart‘s free agency could be resolved soon, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald suggests it could drag on for a while. One source tells Bulpett that if nothing gets done this week, Smart and the Celtics could “take a break” and revisit things a little later. According to Bulpett, the C’s would like to lock up Smart to a multiyear deal, but long-term security seems less important to the 24-year-old than “getting what he thinks is fair.”
- A source close to Smart tells Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that the veteran guard has been “unresponsive” to the Celtics‘ efforts to reach out because he’s “insulted” by a perceived lack of respect from team management.
- Rodney Stuckey, who is looking to get back into the NBA after sitting out the 2017/18 season, is hosting a private workout on Thursday in Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes, who tweets that several NBA teams will be in attendance. A February report indicated that Stuckey hoped to play two or three more NBA seasons.
- Explaining the Lakers‘ approach to free agency after landing LeBron James, general manager Rob Pelinka said the front office didn’t target three-point marksmen in free agency because they feel like they already have several solid outside shooters, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. The Lakers wanted to add more multi-dimensional players to try to combat a team like the Warriors, according to Pelinka: “We did not want to go out and just sign specialists, ‘Oh this guy can just shoot.’ We wanted tough two-way players that can defend with a level of toughness and also make shots.”
Thunder Re-Sign Raymond Felton
JULY 12: The Thunder have officially re-signed Felton, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 3: The Thunder have agreed to terms with Raymond Felton, who will return to Oklahoma City for the 2018/19 season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Felton will ink a one-year, minimum salary deal, per Wojnarowski.
Felton, 34, served as Russell Westbrook‘s primary backup at the point in 2017/18, and the Thunder liked his performance enough to bring him back for another year. Felton appeared in all 82 games for OKC, averaging 6.9 PPG and 2.5 APG with a .406/.352/.818 shooting line.
Felton’s return doesn’t come as a real surprise, according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, who notes (via Twitter) that the veteran point guard recently participated in a five-on-five scrimmage as if he was still on the team when the Thunder brought in some free agents for a workout.
With Felton set to receive another minimum salary contract, his new deal pushes the Thunder’s total projected bill for their 2018/19 roster above $300MM, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Oklahoma City is expected to make cost-cutting moves at some point, but for now they’re carrying about $150MM in salary and another $150MM in projected tax penalties, with new agreements for Paul George, Jerami Grant, Nerlens Noel, and Felton taken into account.
Contract Details: Jokic, Payton, Craig, Bradley
While Nikola Jokic‘s new five-year deal with the Nuggets was reported as a maximum-salary contract, that’s not technically accurate. According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (via Twitter), the base value of Jokic’s new deal falls just short of the max, since it includes about $1MM per year in bonuses linked to team success.
As Lowe explains, about half of those annual bonuses can be earned if the Nuggets make the playoffs, while the other half can be earned if the club advances to the second round. Because Denver didn’t achieve either of those benchmarks in 2017/18, those bonuses are currently considered “unlikely” incentives and don’t count against the Nuggets’ cap.
In 2018/19, for instance, Jokic’s cap hit will be about $24.6MM rather than the maximum $25.5MM, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. However, if the Nuggets were to win a playoff series in 2019, Jokic would earn his first-year bonus and his second-year bonuses would subsequently be considered “likely,” causing his future cap hit to increase.
Here are several more specific details on newly-signed contracts from around the NBA, all via Pincus unless otherwise indicated:
- Elfrid Payton, who was signed using most of the Pelicans‘ bi-annual exception, got a flat $3MM salary for 2018/19 (Twitter link).
- As expected, the Nuggets used a portion of their mid-level exception to sign Torrey Craig to his new two-year deal. Craig will earn a flat $2MM salary in each season, for a $4MM total (Twitter link).
- Avery Bradley has a fully guaranteed $12MM salary in the first season of his two-year contract with the Clippers, but only $2MM of his $12.96MM salary for 2019/20 is guaranteed (Twitter link). The Clips will have to make a decision on Bradley’s second-year guarantee by July 3, 2019.
- The Knicks gave second-round pick Mitchell Robinson guaranteed salaries of $1.5MM and $1.6MM in his first two years, with non-guaranteed minimum salaries in years three and four (Twitter link). The four-year deal, which has a team option in year four, should be worth just shy of $6.6MM in total.
- Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk‘s three-year contract with the Lakers has a guaranteed first-year salary of $1,487,694, followed by non-guaranteed minimum salaries for years two and three (Twitter link). The third year is a team option.
Friday Is Deadline For Teams To Unilaterally Withdraw QOs
July 13 represents a minor deadline for NBA free agency. It’s the last day that an NBA team can unilaterally withdraw a qualifying offer from a restricted free agent, making him an unrestricted free agent.
If a team decides to leave its qualifying offer on the table through this Friday, that club won’t be able to rescind the offer later without the player’s consent. From July 14 until October 1, a player with a qualifying offer still on the table would be able to accept that one-year offer at any time.
After October 1, the qualifying offer would no longer be an option for a restricted free agents — RFAs would still be restricted after that date, but they’d no longer have the one-year QO to fall back on.
This set of rules and deadlines applies to players who received two-way qualifying offers in addition to bigger-name players like Marcus Smart, Clint Capela, and Jabari Parker, who were tendered standard qualifying offers. We’ve seen two-way players like Derrick Walton (Heat) and JaKarr Sampson (Kings) have their QOs rescinded within the last week, making them unrestricted free agents.
It’s possible that a couple more RFAs will have their qualifying offers withdrawn today or tomorrow. Last year on July 13, for instance, the Spurs made the surprise decision to withdraw Jonathon Simmons‘ QO.
Here are the restricted free agents who still have qualifying offers on the table:
Players on NBA contracts:
- Marcus Smart, Celtics ($6,053,719)
- Clint Capela, Rockets ($4,749,591)
- Jabari Parker, Bucks ($4,333,932)
- Rodney Hood, Cavaliers ($3,472,887)
- Yogi Ferrell, Mavericks ($2,919,204)
- Montrezl Harrell, Clippers ($1,839,228)
- Nando De Colo, Raptors ($1,828,750)
- Note: De Colo is a virtual lock to continue his career overseas, but the Raptors retain his NBA rights by issuing a qualifying offer every year.
- David Nwaba, Bulls ($1,699,698)
- Patrick McCaw, Warriors ($1,699,698)
Players on two-way contracts:
Note: Qualifying offers for two-way players are one-year, two-way contracts with a $50K guarantee.
- Xavier Munford, Bucks
- Marshall Plumlee, Bucks
- Ryan Arcidiacono, Bulls
- Jabari Bird, Celtics
- Tyrone Wallace, Clippers
- Georges Niang, Jazz
- Milton Doyle, Nets
- Malcolm Miller, Raptors
- Markel Brown, Rockets
- Darrun Hilliard, Spurs
Wizards Officially Sign Dwight Howard
A three-week saga that saw Dwight Howard traded by one team, bought out by a second team, and signed by a third team has come to an end. According to the NBA’s official transactions log, Howard formally signed his new contract with the Wizards on Wednesday.
Howard, who had initially been owed nearly $24MM as he entered a contract year, was traded from the Hornets to the Nets in a deal that saw Charlotte acquire Timofey Mozgov, a pair of second-round picks, and $5MM in cash. While that trade was agreed upon before June’s draft, it couldn’t be finalized until July for salary cap reasons.
The former No. 1 overall pick was subsequently bought out by the Nets, giving back a reported $5MM to the team in that agreement. After clearing waivers earlier this week, Howard was able to officially finalize his new contract agreement with the Wizards, a two-year deal that will use the taxpayer mid-level exception.
As our chart of this year’s mid-level values shows, the contract will pay him $5,337,000 in 2018/19, with a 2019/20 player option worth $5,603,850.
Howard projects to slot in as the Wizards’ starting center after the team traded former starter Marcin Gortat to the Clippers in a June deal. Based on Washington’s current roster, Howard would be backed up by Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith, and Thomas Bryant at the center position.
While Howard has seemingly worn out his welcome at his last several NBA stops, the 32-year-old remains a productive NBA center and should provide the Wizards with a big man who can finish at the rim, grab double-digit rebounds, and block some shots. Last season in Charlotte, Howard averaged 16.6 PPG, 12.5 RPG, and 1.6 BPG in 81 starts (30.4 MPG).
Having added Howard, Austin Rivers, Jeff Green, and rookie Troy Brown so far this offseason, the Wizards are up to 14 players with a team salary approaching $135MM. Barring cost-cutting moves, Washington figures to be a taxpayer again in 2018/19. If the team wants to fill out the last spot on its roster, it will only have the minimum salary exception available to do so.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Magic Rumors: Grant, Mozgov, Gordon, Caupain
Newly-acquired point guard Jerian Grant expected to have a bigger role with the Magic than he had with the Bulls, John Denton of the team’s website reports. Grant was traded to Orlando as part of a three-team deal also involving the Hornets. He’ll compete with D.J. Augustin for the starting job. “I’ve improved and learned a lot about the game – about how you have to be aggressive, know the game and know your teammates,’’ Grant told Denton. “Being that point guard, it’s the toughest position in the league and you’ve got to bring it every night. I feel that with this opportunity, I’m ready to take advantage of.”
In other developments involving the Magic:
- Center Timofey Mozgov was the other player acquired in the trade but it’s uncertain what his role will be, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports. Mozgov has two years and $32.72MM remaining on his contract but Orlando has three other centers on the roster, including Nikola Vucevic, lottery pick Mohamed Bamba and Khem Birch. “He’s very bright,” coach Steve Clifford said of Mozgov. “He’s a big body, and he’s a much better athlete than people give him credit for. So we’ll see. We’ll bring them in and start to get to know them.”
- Forward Aaron Gordon said that reaching a multi-year agreement with the club brought tears to his eyes, Denton writes in a separate piece. Gordon was relieved to sign a four-year, $80MM contract after entering the month as a restricted free agent. “I’m a guy who naturally has a lot of energy, so with all of that [pressure of getting an agreement] piled on top of me, I was pacing,” he said. “It’s relief that we got it done and even more relief that I can come back to Orlando.”
- The Magic have signed guard Troy Caupain to a two-way contract. Caupain played for their G League team last season. Get all the details here.
Northwest Notes: Blazers, Tolliver, Noel, Roberson
The Trail Blazers are looking to make trades to upgrade their roster, Sean Meagher of The Oregonian relays via an NBA-TV interview. Portland retained Jusuf Nurkic with a four-year deal and added guards Seth Curry and Nik Stauskas in free agency. They also used a slice of their mid-level exception to sign second-rounder Gary Trent Jr.
“There’s a great foundation there, we need to continue to add veterans,” Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey told Leigh Ellis of The Starters. “The draft was the draft, we didn’t have a lot of resources in free agency – we had the tax-payer mid-level, we broke that up – and now we’ll go into the rest of the offseason looking to make trades to bolster the top nine guys in our rotation.”
In other news around the Northwest Division:
- The Timberwolves valued veteran power forward Anthony Tolliver as much for his defense as his 3-point shooting and veteran leadership, coach Tom Thibodeau told Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Tolliver signed a one-year, $5.75MM contract after a solid season with the Pistons. “We wanted to address the defense of the second unit, and we think he’ll be a great fit,” Thibodeau said. “Whatever he’s asked to do, he does it. He always stars in his role. We can’t have enough guys like that.”
- Nerlens Noel was recruited by Russell Westbrook and Paul George to join the Thunder, he told Nick Gallo of the Thunder’s website. Noel signed a two-year deal with a player option, adding depth to OKC’s frontcourt. “They called the night of free agency when I was meeting with coach Billy [Donovan],” Noel said of the Thunder’s 1-2 punch. “They told me, let’s get it done and that we want to do special things this year. I definitely felt where they were coming from. I gave it a little thought and with as much love as they showed, it became an easy decision.”
- Thunder guard Andre Roberson says he’s on track to be back in action for the start of the season, according to Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman. He ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee in January. Roberson is able to do some light shooting and ball-handling drills but hasn’t started running.