NBA teams are permitted to carry up to 20 players during the offseason, so no clubs have been forced to cut anyone to make room for new additions so far this summer. However, once the regular season begins in October, teams must trim their rosters to 15 players (not counting two-way contracts), and there are already a handful of clubs that may face some difficult decision to get down to that number.
Of course, there’s plenty of time for these teams to figure out how their regular season rosters will look and make the necessary trades or cuts. It’s only mid-August after all.
Still, we wanted to check in on these teams to preview some of the decisions they may be facing in the coming weeks and months.
Let’s dive in…
Los Angeles Clippers:
After officially completing their new deal with Kawhi Leonard on Thursday, the Clippers now have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, and Nicolas Batum will become the 16th once he officially finalizes his new contract with the team.
Yogi Ferrell remains under contract on a non-guaranteed salary, but it’s hard to see how he’ll fit on the regular season roster, since the club would have to remove two players on guaranteed salaries in order to keep him.
Perhaps the Clippers, who are facing a projected $125MM tax bill in 2021/22, will make a surprise trade involving a veteran on an expiring contract in order to cut costs, but it’s hard at this point to imagine the team salary-dumping a player like Patrick Beverley, Serge Ibaka, or Rajon Rondo.
This year’s second-round picks, Jason Preston and Brandon Boston, signed deals with two guaranteed seasons and should be safe, but last year’s second-rounder – Daniel Oturu – is on an expiring $1.52MM deal and could be at risk of losing his roster spot following a quiet rookie season.
San Antonio Spurs:
The Spurs are currently at 14 players on guaranteed contracts and one (Drew Eubanks) with a small partial guarantee of $500K. Their offseason moves aren’t all done though — Bryn Forbes and Jock Landale have yet to sign their contracts, and second-rounder Joe Wieskamp is unsigned too.
We don’t know the exact salary details for Forbes and Landale. However, Forbes seems like a safe bet for a full guarantee. It’s possible Landale’s deal won’t be guaranteed, which would make him and Eubanks potential odd men out. The Spurs also have an open two-way slot, which perhaps they’d like to use on Wieskamp.
If San Antonio wants to carry at least one of Eubanks, Landale, and Wieskamp on its 15-man regular season roster, Al-Farouq Aminu would be the most logical odd man out. Injuries have limited him to just 41 games over the last two seasons, he’s on an expiring contract, and he was included in the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes.
Detroit Pistons:
It was a little surprising when the Pistons brought back Rodney McGruder on a guaranteed minimum-salary deal just a few days after waiving him. McGruder is Detroit’s 15th guaranteed contract, and the team has yet to sign restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo or second-round picks Luka Garza and Balsa Koprivica.
The Pistons are reportedly using one of their two-way contract slots on undrafted rookie Chris Smith, but that leaves one for Koprivica or Garza. Jahlil Okafor, who is on expiring $2.13MM contract, is probably the most expendable of the 15 players on guaranteed deals.
But even if, say, Koprivica fills a two-way slot and Diallo replaces Okafor on the 15-man roster, one more move would be necessary to accommodate Garza. Perhaps Detroit can stash Koprivica in the G League or an international league and use that second two-way spot on Garza.
New York Knicks:
The Knicks are carrying just 10 players on fully guaranteed contracts for the time being, but they still need to officially complete deals for Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Taj Gibson. That’ll bring the total to 14.
The team is also carrying Luca Vildoza on a non-guaranteed deal, has reached an agreement to sign Dwayne Bacon, and has No. 34 overall pick Rokas Jokubaitis talking about wanting to make this year’s roster.
We don’t know the full details on Bacon’s contract yet, but if it’s not fully guaranteed, he could end up battling Vildoza for the final spot on the 15-man squad, with Jokubaitis returning to Europe for at least one more year.
A few other situations worth noting:
- The Celtics will have 15 fully guaranteed contracts once Dennis Schröder and Enes Kanter officially sign, making Jabari Parker (non-guaranteed) the odd man out unless a player like Kris Dunn or Bruno Fernando is traded.
- The Nets have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with DeAndre’ Bembry on a partial guarantee and Alize Johnson on a non-guaranteed deal. Second-round picks Kessler Edwards, Marcus Zegarowski, and RaiQuan Gray are all unsigned, as is two-way RFA Reggie Perry. Two of those players will likely end up on two-way deals and one of the second-rounders probably replaces Johnson on the 15-man roster. However, there’s not really a path to Edwards, Zegarowski, and Gray all claiming standard contracts or two-way deals unless one of Bembry or Perry is cut loose.
- The Warriors have 13 players on fully guaranteed deals, meaning not all three of Damion Lee, Mychal Mulder, and Gary Payton II (all non-guaranteed) will make the team. Mulder and Payton may end up fighting for the 15th spot.
- If the Pelicans sign RFA Josh Hart and second-round pick Herb Jones to guaranteed contracts, they’ll have 15 of them, making Wenyen Gabriel (non-guaranteed) the likely odd man out.
- The Sixers have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with Paul Reed and Anthony Tolliver on non-guaranteed deals and second-round picks Charles Bassey and Filip Petrusev unsigned. Bassey figures to get a 15-man spot, since both of the team’s two-way slots are full, and I’d be surprised if Reed goes anywhere. That might mean Tolliver is waived, with Petrusev remaining overseas.
- The Kings will have 14 players on guaranteed contracts once Alex Len officially signs, leaving Chimezie Metu (partially guaranteed) and Justin James (non-guaranteed) battling for the 15th spot.
C’s, go ahead and cut Parker, and then finalize the offseason contracts…let’s move on to 2021-2022.
Is he less valuable than Carson Edwards?
C’s been been playing Hopscotch with trades and draft picks sine the bird,McC and parish.it dam near killed Danny.And getting D S.is another one.They done value smart a real true C.
SL young guys are looking good to me. Quickley playing good might have just made it easier to cut Luca. His contract is not guaranteed. Bacon can bring the D and energy. We lost with Bullock leaving. I think we are ready to move forward. Knicks are deeper this yr with more offense. It should translate to a better team. But the East is also deeper. So we will be fighting to be a top 4 team. “In Thibs I Trust”
Celtics would be dumb to let Jabari walk. To me Bruno and Dunn are expendable. But who wants them ?? I’m sure Jabari will get picked up by another team.
GP2 >>>>>> Mulder
How about Dunn>GP2?
I’d personally love to see the clippers make a trade to get themselves a little better. Try keep up with the likes of the Lakers, Jazz, Nets etc etc.
Maybe one of these :
1. Terry Rozier for Rondo and Zubac/Kennard
2. Terrance Ross for Luke Kennard and 2 second round picks
3. KCP for Kennard
If it comes down to Payton or Mulder for the Warriors last roster spot, I take Payton without a second thought. With Klay coming back and the additions of Porter and Bjelica the Warriors have enough shooting to make Mulder expendable.
Add a healthy Damion Lee, and Moses Moody hitting nearly 50% from 3 this summer, both can feasibly put on Klay impressions. I originally thought Lee for offense(over 38% from 3 since joining Golden State) and Moody for his defense(7’2 wingspan) however Moody might surprise some this year. I think he’s got a shot at making an All-Rookie team, perhaps not the 1st team, but maybe the 2nd. It’s feasible he ends up as a top 10 rookie this season with Klay projected to be out until at least December. Moody’s played with guys like Cade his whole life, and has functionally had Klay’s role most of his basketball career. I think he’s more athletic than Klay(certainly post-injury) and Lee, but I don’t think he’s going to have that much trouble finding a role, especially if he’s able to use his wingspan effectively. I would not be surprised if Moody and Kuminga are ahead of Wiseman, as they both benefited from a non-Covid summer league and will benefit from a non-Covid training camp, however that doesn’t mean Wiseman shouldn’t be the 2nd team center. In fact I think if they choose to start Lee/Moody at SG, a Poole/Iggy/JTA/Porter/Wiseman OR Poole/Lee/JTA/Bjelicia/Wiseman(of Wigs starts at the 2 and Porter the 3) i really like the idea of a Poole/Wiseman 2-man game vs opposing backups. At 6’4/7’0, they could be a taller LouWil/Trez(6’1/6’7) and having guys like Iggy, Bjelicia, Lee, JTA, Porter, and eventually Klay all fit better than Nico, Mulder, Baze, Oubre, Wanamaker, Bell, etc. even GP2 should be a better fit this year than he was last year due to time in the system. I have my highest hopes for Wiggins, who(once Oubre/Wiseman were swapped for Bazemore/Looney) became a 21/5 guy shooting 41% from 3, which he repeated for Canada. Having a Non-covid training camp will undoubtedly help Wiggins, as will the better lineup fits like Porter>Oubre, Bjelicia>Wiseman, Klay>Bazemore, Iggy>Mannion Moody+Kuminga>Wanamaker+Paschall AND NOT FORGETTING the growth of Poole and JTA, who should only improve with time in the system as well. A LOT of folks are disappointed we didn’t do much in FA but with vet min and MLE at our disposal, idk what better options were around as I do believe they tried to get Patty Mills, Austin Rivers, Dennis, and Raul Neto, but Rivers had a better opportunity with Denver replacing Murray, Schroder is effectively replacing Kemba, Patty Mills gets to be the cherry on top of a super team that doesn’t know what to expect from Kyrie, and Neto sticks with the club that just traded Russ. Mills, Rivers and Schroder would’ve been the only guy i think GSW felt comfortable giving the full MLE to.
Perhaps they still go with getting Avery Bradley for a small portion of the MLE, or even Millsap. Maybe Ntilikina on the minimum, however I think they’re waiting for teams to cut guys during the roster crunch as there’s GOT to be teams that have 3 or more PG’s and you can’t keep everyone.
Even Tyler Johnson would be interesting, however id rather go with Poole and Iggy as I assume the belief is that Poole and Iggy equal one backup PG’s worth of playmaking.
Bradley would be my guy though as of now, still 30 years old, still defends and hits 3’s. If he was 6’6 he’d be making $12 million a year, but he’s the size of a PG with the playmaking skills of a spot up shooter(minimal). Still, with nobody aside from GP2 as a high level PG(point of attack) defender Bradley could help in that case. Even starting alongside Steph/Wigs/Dray/Looney, or with Poole(6’4+) to form a solid backcourt where Bradley eliminates the opposition’s top guard.
Okay I’m done!
NYK won’t cut Luca unless they conclude he’s a disappointment. It’s always a competition in some ways, but not a direct one in this case (vs a Bacon or Knox, etc.). Luca’s contract is NG. But its not a typical camp contract in that regard; they have (effectively) paid already (in salary last year) for (effectively) 3 options seasons. He’ll get a LONG look, and if he shows potential, they’ll find a way to keep him, even if means a trade.
If I were the Warriors I would sit on the MLE and wait for one of these greedy teams hoarding players for draft picks to be forced to cut bait. That way the Warriors can offer one of these involuntary free agents, who may have turned their nose up on the Dubs earlier in free agency, a vet minimum contract as an alternative to the unemployment line