Texas Notes: Matthews, Harrell, Duncan, Fredette
The Mavericks figure to have a balanced offensive attack again this season, writes Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com, but max-salary signee Wesley Matthews appears the best bet to take over the role of lead scorer from Monta Ellis, who’s now a Pacer, Sneed adds. That’s not a familiar job for Matthews, but given the similarity between the offense he was a part of under former Mavs assistant Terry Stotts with the Blazers and the one that Mavs coach Rick Carlisle employs, the shooting guard is confident he can expand his game, as Sneed relays.
“You know, I’ve never been one to allow someone to label me,” Matthews said. “I always continue to try to get better. I’m not a content type of person. If they come up with a term three-and-D and they want to fit me in that category, that’s fine. But there’s not a thing that I don’t think I can do on the court, and I’m excited for the opportunity. You know, talking to coach Carlisle, I’m obviously familiar with the system, having ran it in Portland. And talking to him, there’s opportunities that he sees how I can help this team. And I’m excited for those opportunities.”
See more from around the Texas triangle:
- The Rockets and Montrezl Harrell, this year’s No. 32 overall pick, remain in talks, as Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com writes at the end of a report on Jason Terry‘s decision to re-sign with Houston. A market value deal for Harrell, which would entail more than the minimum salary, or a contract that stretches more than two years would trigger a hard cap of $88.74MM for the Rockets, who are already approaching that amount.
- Tim Duncan knows some adjustment will be involved, but he’s enthusiastic about the marquee offseason additions the Spurs made, as Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News relays (Twitter link). Duncan re-signed with the Spurs on a discounted deal with a no-trade clause that will pay him $5.25MM with a player option worth $5,643,750 for 2016/17, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
- The Spurs have a history of turning around faltering careers like his, but the pressure is on Jimmer Fredette to show he can stick in the NBA, as Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders examines. Fredette signed only a partially guaranteed deal with the Spurs, so he’ll have to prove his worth right away, Kennedy adds.
Raptors, Jonas Valanciunas Deep In Extension Talks
THURSDAY, 9:16am: The sides are still working, and while there has been some optimism they’ll strike a deal today, that remains to be seen, Grange tweets.
TUESDAY, 11:19am: The Raptors and Valanciunas are indeed close to deal, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who suggests that it’s a distinct possibility a formal agreement will come this week. However, the timing remains a question mark, and it’s no guarantee the sides reach a deal this week, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link).
4:23pm: The deal isn’t done, but the Raptors and Valanciunas are in advanced discussions toward a four-year extension that would be worth more than $60MM, Stein adds (on Twitter).
4:20pm: Marc Stein of ESPN.com confirms that Valanciunas on his way to Toronto “to firm up” an extension with the Raptors (Twitter link). It remains unclear whether the sides have an agreement quite yet, however.
MONDAY, 3:53pm: Jonas Valanciunas has left the Lithuanian national team to return to Toronto, where the Raptors have an extension offer waiting for him, Lithuanian national team coach Jonas Kazlauskas said, as Donatas Urbonas of 24Sek.lt writes and as Kevin Rashidi of Canada.com translates and confirms (Twitter link). He’ll undergo a physical, but Kazlauskas indicated the center would sign the deal.
The Raptors have reportedly wanted extensions with both Valanciunas and fellow former lottery pick Terrence Ross in advance of this year’s November 2nd deadline. GM Masai Ujiri this past spring called Valanciunas “a huge part of our team” for the future, and while the development of the 7-footer seemed to plateau this past season, the Raptors apparently placed the blame for that on their assistant coaches.
An extension for Valanciunas would kick in for the 2016/17 season, when the salary cap is projected to hit $89MM. The Raptors are set to enter that season with only about $45.5MM on the books, though that doesn’t include any money for Valanciunas, Ross, or DeMar DeRozan, who can opt out next summer.
Nikola Vucevic, a center who struggles defensively, as Valanciunas does, but who had put up greater offensive numbers, signed a four-year, $48MM extension with the Magic last year. Still, the rising cap prompted me to project, when I examined the extension candidacy of Valanciunas last week, that the Raptors would give the Leon Rose client $13-14MM a year.
Do you think the Raptors and Valanciunas should wait until the extension deadline in the fall, when other deals could help set the market, or are they smart to try to wrap up a deal now? Leave a comment to let us know.
Pacers, Others To Meet With Briante Weber
The Pacers are set to meet with undrafted point guard Briante Weber today, reports Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports. At least 15 NBA teams have expressed interest in the former VCU standout, a source tells Agness. Indiana has been among the most aggressive, and they’re the first team Weber is visiting, Agness adds. The 22-year-old will meet with Pacers officials and medical staff, according to Agness, and while he’s been doing on-court work lately, more than six months after a season-ending right knee injury, it’s unclear if he’ll be working out for the team.
Weber, in spite of the injury, was the 73rd-best draft prospect this year, according to Chad Ford of ESPN.com, so it’s not surprising to see him attract attention as training camp approaches. The Ronald Shade client was on pace to break the all-time NCAA Division I career steals record before he suffered a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee on January 31st, Agness notes. He averaged 3.9 steals per game in 20 appearances last season to go along with 8.9 points, 4.3 assists and 1.7 turnovers in 26.5 minutes per contest. VCU teammate Treveon Graham signed Monday with the Jazz.
Indiana already has 15 players with fully guaranteed salaries, plus Toney Douglas, who has a partial guarantee of $600K, so Weber would face long odds to stick for opening night if he and the Pacers work out a deal for camp. The Pacers are in talks about a possible purchase of what would be a one-to-one D-League affiliate, but for now, the franchise doesn’t have its own D-League team, so Indiana is without the ability to carry on an organizational partnership with any of the players it cuts at the end of the preseason.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript
4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.
3:00pm: The Raptors and Jonas Valanciunas are reportedly close to a four-year extension worth more than $60MM, the latest indication that NBA economics are undergoing a metamorphosis. The Lithuanian center is a former No. 5 overall pick, but last season’s pedestrian 12.0 points per game were a career high, and he’s a minus defender, as I examined earlier this month. Extensions usually entail the player making the sacrifice, but Valanciunas appears poised to sign a deal with an average annual value greater than all but one of the players on this past season’s title-winning Warriors team. Still, the projected maximum that Valanciunas could sign for in an extension is $20.4MM, so perhaps Toronto will end up with a bargain after all. We can discuss Valanciunas, the rapidly-changing NBA salary structure, the latest on Jamal Crawford and Jason Terry, and much more in today’s chat.
Teams With The Most Rookie Scale Contracts
The Cavs will be a popular pick for the NBA title this season, and that’ll probably be the case as long as LeBron James is at or near his peak and wearing a Cleveland uniform. However, once the LeBron era winds down, the future looks murky for the Cavs, who are the only NBA team without a player on a rookie scale contract, the sort of deal that first-round picks sign when they join the NBA.
Conversely, the Celtics and Timberwolves aren’t where they want to be yet, but they have no shortage of young talent. They’re tied atop the league with eight players apiece on rookie scale contracts. The C’s arguably have more “future assets” than anybody, since they also have five extra future first-round picks coming their way.
See how all 30 teams stack up in terms of rookie-scale contracts:
- Celtics, 8 (R.J. Hunter, Perry Jones III, Kelly Olynyk, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Jared Sullinger, James Young, Tyler Zeller)
- Timberwolves, 8 (Anthony Bennett, Gorgui Dieng, Tyus Jones, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Adreian Payne, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins)
- Bucks, 7 (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Michael Carter-Williams, Tyler Ennis, John Henson, Jabari Parker, Miles Plumlee, Rashad Vaughn)
- Magic, 7 (Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon, Mario Hezonja, Shabazz Napier, Andrew Nicholson, Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton)
- Thunder, 6 (Steven Adams, Josh Huestis, Mitch McGary, Cameron Payne, Andre Roberson, Dion Waiters)
- Trail Blazers, 6 (Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard, Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Mason Plumlee, Noah Vonleh)*
- Hornets, 5 (P.J. Hairston, Frank Kaminsky, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Jeremy Lamb, Cody Zeller)
- Jazz, 5 (Trey Burke, Dante Exum, Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood, Trey Lyles)
- Raptors, 5 (Bruno Caboclo, Lucas Nogueira, Terrence Ross, Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright)
- Sixers, 5 (Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, Tony Wroten)
- Pistons, 4 (Reggie Bullock, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Andre Drummond, Stanley Johnson)
- Rockets, 4 (Clint Capela, Sam Dekker, Terrence Jones, Donatas Motiejunas)
- Suns, 4 (Devin Booker, Archie Goodwin, Alex Len, T.J. Warren)
- Bulls, 3 (Doug McDermott, Bobby Portis, Tony Snell)
- Lakers, 3 (Larry Nance Jr., Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell)
- Nets, 3 (Sergey Karasev, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Chris McCullough)
- Nuggets, 3 (Gary Harris, Emmanuel Mudiay, Jusuf Nurkic)
- Warriors, 3 (Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli, Kevon Looney)
- Wizards, 3 (Bradley Beal, Kelly Oubre, Otto Porter)
- Grizzlies, 2 (Jordan Adams, Jarell Martin)
- Hawks, 2 (Tim Hardaway Jr., Dennis Schröder)
- Knicks, 2 (Jerian Grant, Kristaps Porzingis)
- Pacers, 2 (Myles Turner, Solomon Hill)
- Clippers, 1 (C.J. Wilcox)
- Heat, 1 (Justise Winslow)
- Kings, 2 (Willie Cauley-Stein, Ben McLemore)
- Mavericks, 1 (Justin Anderson)
- Pelicans, 1 (Anthony Davis)*
- Spurs, 1 (Kyle Anderson)
- Cavaliers, 0
* — The rookie scale contracts for Davis and Lillard run through the coming season, but they’ve already signed a maximum-salary extensions that will kick with the 2016/17 season.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Longest-Tenured NBA Head Coaches
The past year has been one of relative stability on NBA benches, as 24 of the 30 head coaches from this time last year are still in their respective jobs. Still, the list of the longest-tenured coaches is noticeably different from when we last compiled it in July 2014.
Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra and Rick Carlisle still occupy the top three spots, but the next three names from last year’s list are all absent from this year’s. The Thunder fired Scott Brooks after he spent nearly seven seasons on the job, and the Pelicans pink-slipped Monty Williams after five years. Most notoriously, the tumultuous relationship between the Bulls and Tom Thibodeau met its end when Chicago terminated the former Coach of the Year. Brooks also won a Coach of the Year award during his time with the Thunder, proving that even in a quiet year for NBA coaching changes, the position simply doesn’t offer much job security.
Jacque Vaughn, the No. 11 coach on last year’s list, was already long gone by the time Brooks, Williams and Thibodeau became unemployed, with the Magic having fired him in February. The Kings ousted 2014 No. 16 Michael Malone two months before Vaughn lost his job, but Malone still appears on this year’s list, all the way down at No. 30, as the Nuggets hired him in June, three months after they fired Brian Shaw, who was the 18th longest tenured coach a year ago.
George Karl, Billy Donovan, Scott Skiles, Alvin Gentry and Fred Hoiberg are the newcomers this year, though rumors that the Kings had already considered firing Karl surfaced earlier this summer. Karl may yet keep his job, but rest assured, the list below won’t look the same by next summer. Here are all 30 NBA coaches ranked by the length of time they’ve been in their respective jobs:
- Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
- Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
- Rick Carlisle, Mavericks: May 2008
- Frank Vogel, Pacers: January 2011 (interim; permanent since July 2011)
- Kevin McHale, Rockets: June 2011
- Dwane Casey, Raptors: June 2011
- Randy Wittman, Wizards: January 2012 (interim; permanent since June 2012)
- Terry Stotts, Trail Blazers: August 2012
- Jeff Hornacek, Suns: May 2013
- Mike Budenholzer, Hawks: May 2013
- Steve Clifford, Hornets: May 2013
- Dave Joerger, Grizzlies: June 2013
- Doc Rivers, Clippers: June 2013
- Brad Stevens, Celtics: July 2013
- Brett Brown, Sixers: August 2013
- Stan Van Gundy, Pistons: May 2014
- Steve Kerr, Warriors: May 2014
- Flip Saunders, Timberwolves: June 2014
- Quin Snyder, Jazz: June 2014
- Derek Fisher, Knicks: June 2014
- David Blatt, Cavs: June 2014
- Jason Kidd, Bucks: July 2014
- Lionel Hollins, Nets: July 2014
- Byron Scott, Lakers: July 2014
- George Karl, Kings: February 2015
- Billy Donovan, Thunder: April 30, 2015
- Scott Skiles, Magic: May 29, 2015
- Alvin Gentry, Pelicans: May 31, 2015*
- Fred Hoiberg, Bulls: June 2, 2015
- Michael Malone, Nuggets: June 15, 2015
* — The Pelicans hired Gentry on May 31st, but he didn’t assume the job until after he finished up as an assistant coach for the Warriors in the NBA Finals, by which time the Bulls had brought aboard Fred Hoiberg and the Nuggets had tapped Michael Malone. Still, since coaches whom teams hire in the offseason don’t necessarily begin their work right away, regardless of whether they’re still finishing up other obligations, we’ll list Gentry by his date of hire.
To see how this list has evolved over a longer period time, check out the list from June 2013.
Which of these 30 coaches do you think is least likely to hold his job by this time next year? Leave a comment to let us know.
Trade Candidate: Jamal Crawford
Jamal Crawford apparently wishes he were a free agent, as he said on Twitter earlier this summer, but he still has one more season left on his contract. However, if he wants to leave the Clippers, he seems to stand a decent chance of having that happen for him before next July. The Clippers aren’t eager to trade the two-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner, but they reportedly explored the idea around draft time, and they’ve spent the summer upgrading on the wing, with newcomers Lance Stephenson, Paul Pierce and Wesley Johnson. The Knicks have expressed interest, as Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported Tuesday, and the Heat and Cavs were apparently interested as of earlier this summer. Crawford is 35 years old and coming off his fewest minutes per game since the 2002/03 season, but it appears there’s still a market for him.
The Heat called the Clippers about Crawford in early July, as Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reported then, but as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel points out, that was before Miami signed Gerald Green. Bringing in Crawford and his $5.675MM salary would likely commit the team to paying repeat-offender tax penalties this season, Winderman also asserts, though that would probably depend on the nature of the trade they’d make. The Clippers, like the Heat and the Cavs, are above the tax threshold for now, and that would complicate any move, since the salary-matching constraints are stricter for tax teams.
The Knicks are well outside of tax territory, for a change, but they face other challenges. The Knicks don’t have any trade exceptions, so they’d have to send players to the Clippers to make a trade work. Only four Knicks players — Carmelo Anthony, Jose Calderon, Langston Galloway and Cleanthony Early — are currently eligible for inclusion in trades. First-round picks Kristaps Porzingis and Jerian Grant join them later this month, but that’s still not much to choose from. Calderon seems like the most logical candidate, given that the Clippers would be somewhat short on backup point guard options if Crawford weren’t there anymore, but the Clips would have to send additional salary to New York to make that a match. Porzingis would be an intriguing option for a Clippers team that doesn’t have much young talent coming up the pipeline, but the Knicks would be ill-advised to trade this year’s No. 4 overall pick for a 35-year-old who’s a year away from free agency. As Isola suggested, the involvement of a third team might be necessary if the Knicks are to somehow end up with Crawford.
The Cavaliers also only have four players eligible to be traded — Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao, Timofey Mozgov and Joe Harris — but they have a trade exception worth $10,522,500 that they can use to take in Crawford without giving up a player in return. That trade exception is a vestige of the Brendan Haywood contract that the Cavs were thinking about sending to the Clips when Cleveland looked into trading for Crawford in early July, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then. The exception makes it easier for the teams to facilitate a deal, since the Clippers would have had to include additional salary along with Crawford to take in Haywood’s contract. Still, it would be difficult for the Clippers to give up Crawford without receiving a player who can help them in their quest for a championship this year. Teams only get so many legitimate cracks at a title, and the Clips would surely be loath to downgrade their talent just as they seem as close as they’ve ever been to the Larry O’Brien trophy.
That’s ostensibly why the Clippers aren’t anxious to trade Crawford in the first place. They’re probably not going to do a deal unless it benefits them on the court, and while Crawford could always pout or become a disruptive force in the locker room, he has yet to air his grievances beyond relatively innocuous social media interaction. The Clippers could nonetheless use some size behind DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. They added Cole Aldrich through free agency, but Aldrich hasn’t proven to be the sort of player who could fill in as the starter for a championship-level team if Jordan or Griffin is injured for any significant stretch of time. That would make Varejao, despite injury concerns of his own, intriguing for the Clippers. It’s unclear just what sort of role a healthy Varejao would play for the Cavs this season, especially with Tristan Thompson‘s free agency still unresolved, but if Thompson comes back, Varejao would be relatively expendable. Of course, the Brazilian is also tight with LeBron James, and the Cavs would have to question the wisdom of sending one of LeBron’s friends to a contending team in a major market with warm weather. The Clips would also have to send additional salary to Cleveland to make a Varejao deal work.
Josh McRoberts and Chris Andersen offer no such salary-matching concerns, and they, like Varejao, would help deepen the Clippers up front. The Heat have no shortage of big men, with McRoberts, Andersen, Chris Bosh, Hassan Whiteside, Amar’e Stoudemire and Udonis Haslem all on the roster, so it would seem fertile ground for a trade is there. I’d contend that if the Heat were to trade McRoberts or Andersen for Crawford, they’d be no more committed to paying the tax than they otherwise would be, since it would entail an almost even exchange of salaries, and Crawford would appear to be a more intriguing trade chip to offer around the league if the Heat can’t find another way to slip under the tax line before the trade deadline. Crawford would give the Heat a strong alternative at shooting guard on the nights that Dwyane Wade can’t go. The addition of Crawford would make it easier for the team to play more small-ball lineups and for Miami to trade Mario Chalmers, currently Miami’s only proven option at the point behind Goran Dragic.
Regardless, it’s a seller’s market for Crawford. The Clippers wield the power, and if they want to mend fences with him, they can always pursue extension talks, as I pointed out earlier. Teams like the Heat, Cavs and Knicks will have to come to Clips coach/executive Doc Rivers, and not the other way around.
What do you think a good trade idea for Crawford might be? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Players With Trade Kickers
Trade kickers are contractual clauses that pay players a bonus when they’re traded, and they represent one of the tools teams have to differentiate their free agent offers from the deals competing clubs put on the table. NBA teams combined to include trade kickers in 11 new free agent contracts this summer, comprising more than a third of the trade kickers currently on the books across the league.
They’re often used to woo stars, like LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan, both of whom have trade kickers worth 15% of their new deals. It seems unlikely that either of them will be traded anytime soon, but their kickers offer further deterrence against a trade as well as the possibility that their maximum-salary contracts will become even more lucrative than they already are. Neither Aldridge nor Jordan would see their bonuses if they were traded this season, since they can’t make more than the maximum salaries their contracts already call for, but if they’re traded in subsequent years, when the maximum salaries are projected to shoot skyward, their kickers would come into play.
Trade kickers aren’t the exclusive purview of the NBA’s most well-paid players. The agents for Alan Anderson, Matthew Dellavedova and Brandan Wright all negotiated trade kickers into the relatively modest deals those players signed this past offseason. Dellavedova wields the double hammer of a trade kicker and the ability to veto trades, making it highly improbable he gets moved this season.
Sometimes a trade kicker is included in an offer sheet that a team makes to a restricted free agent in hopes that the bonus will dissuade the player’s original team from matching. That appears to have been the case with Enes Kanter, who signed an offer sheet with the Trail Blazers that included a trade kicker. In Kanter’s case, the ploy didn’t work, as the Thunder matched anyway.
Most trade kickers are worth 15%, the highest percentage allowed. The trade kicker that Tyreke Evans is unusual, as it calls for him to see either a set amount ($1MM) or 15% of the value of his contract, whichever is less.
Some players with trade kickers were involved in swaps over the summer. They can be traded again, but they won’t receive any extra money if that happens, so they’re not listed here. Below is a list of every NBA player with an active trade kicker, listed alphabetically, with the details of the kickers in parentheses. Players who signed deals this summer are marked with an asterisk.
- *LaMarcus Aldridge, Trail Blazers (15%)
- *Alan Anderson, Wizards (15%)
- Carmelo Anthony, Knicks (15%)
- Bojan Bogdanovic, Nets (15%)
- Kobe Bryant, Lakers (15%)
- *Jimmy Butler, Bulls (5%)
- Vince Carter, Grizzlies (15%)
- *Matthew Dellavedova, Cavaliers (15%)
- Luol Deng, Heat (15%)
- Tyreke Evans, Pelicans (lesser of 15% or $1MM — so, the bonus would be $1MM until midway through the 2016/17 season)
- *Danilo Gallinari, Nuggets (15%)
- *Marc Gasol, Grizzlies (15%)
- Pau Gasol, Bulls (15%)
- Eric Gordon, Pelicans (15%)
- Blake Griffin, Clippers (15%)
- Gordon Hayward, Jazz (15%)
- Kirk Hinrich, Bulls (15%)
- Dwight Howard, Rockets (15%)
- Andre Iguodala, Warriors (15%)
- Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers (15%)
- *LeBron James, Cavaliers (15%)
- *DeAndre Jordan, Clippers (15%)
- *Enes Kanter, Thunder (15%)
- Nikola Mirotic, Bulls (15%)
- Chandler Parsons, Mavericks (15%)
- Chris Paul, Clippers (15%)
- J.J. Redick, Clippers (5%)
- Derrick Rose, Bulls (15%)
- Jeff Teague, Hawks (10%)
- Anderson Varejao, Cavaliers (5%)
- *Brandan Wright, Grizzlies (15%)
- *Thaddeus Young, Nets (15%)
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Clippers Notes: Stephenson, Davis, Jordan, Paul
The Knicks have reportedly emerged as the latest suitor for Jamal Crawford, fueling the idea that the Clippers will trade their sixth man before the start of the season. Still, the Clippers could seek to put an end to such rumors with a new deal for the 35-year-old guard, one of the relatively few around the league who’s eligible for a veteran extension, as I pointed out Tuesday. While we wait to see just what the team will do with Crawford, see the latest from Clipperland:
- Trade acquisition Lance Stephenson is confident that his new Clippers teammates will understand his on-court intensity, an in-the-moment leadership style he compares to that of Chris Paul, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times examines. The Clippers have been “missing that guy that’s tough and doesn’t bow down to no one,” Stephenson told Bolch. “I’m on a mission to win a chip. I’m on a mission to do great this year. I’m on a mission to prove everybody wrong,” Stephenson said. “I mean, a lot of people are doubting me and saying I’m a bad locker-room guy and all of those rumors, but there’s no facts that I’m a bad locker-room guy, so I’m going to just show everybody and just go hard this year.”
- Glen Davis, who said recently that he expects to sign by month’s end and wants to play for a contender, is hopeful that he’ll return to the Clippers, as he told the Gio & Jones show on CBS Sports Radio. “I would love to go back,” Davis said. “Doc [Rivers] and his system works for me. He needs a guy to set picks and do the dirty work and stuff like that. I feel at home there. It’s just about getting [a deal] done.”
- Davis also said in the radio spot that he believes Rivers has changed his coaching style over the years, taking a more active approach with a Clippers core that’s younger than the one he had with the Celtics. Big Baby nonetheless suggested that Rivers should give DeAndre Jordan a larger role in the offense, and Davis also chimed in on the notion of a rift between Jordan and Paul, saying that while the two haven’t always seen eye to eye, their issues haven’t been profound. “It was like a false reality,” Davis said. “It was like they had problems but they didn’t have problems. We can hang out and have a good time off the court. It’s just sometimes with players, some players rub each other the wrong way. That’s what it was.”
Players Eligible For Veteran Extensions
Al Horford isn’t going to talk contract with the Hawks until after the season, as he told Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but the idea that the big man, whose contract expires next summer, isn’t anxious to entertain an extension shouldn’t alarm Hawks fans. An extension for Horford, like most top-tier veterans, would entail a financial sacrifice so profound that it essentially precludes any legitimate consideration of the idea.
Veterans are only eligible to receive a starting salary of 7.5% more than the salary in the final season of the contract under its existing terms, or, in special cases, the contract’s average salary. Teams with cap room can go beyond these constraints, via a renegotiation, but the circumstances that lead to that are so rarely in place that when the Nuggets pulled off renegotiations with Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari this summer, they were only the first and second renegotiations under the 2011 collective bargaining agreement.
Veteran extensions aren’t like rookie scale extensions, which allow players to sign for up to the maximum salary. Plus, veteran extensions can cover no more than three additional seasons, whereas rookie scale extensions can run as long as five. Rookie scale extensions more closely resemble free agent deals. Horford could sign a five-year contract in free agency next summer starting at as much as $24.9MM, the projected max for a player with his level of experience. A veteran extension for Horford would entail the equivalent of a three-year contract starting at only $12.9MM. The choice is clear.
The same logic would apply to Serge Ibaka, who just today joined the ranks of those eligible for a veteran extension. That’s not so for Jeff Green, who wouldn’t realistically be able to command a max contract next summer. He’ll become eligible for a veteran extension Saturday, and it would be reasonable to envision him signing one with the Grizzlies between now and the expiration of his contract next June 30th.
Further limiting the scope of veteran extensions is the fact that a player may only sign one if he’s been under his existing contract for three years, or once three years have passed since the last time he signed an extension. That means any contract that doesn’t run at least four seasons can’t be extended. The complete list of players currently eligible for veteran extensions is below:
- Ryan Anderson, Pelicans
- Nicolas Batum, Hornets*
- Mike Conley, Grizzlies
- Jamal Crawford, Clippers
- Jared Dudley, Wizards*
- Kevin Durant, Thunder
- Eric Gordon, Pelicans
- Blake Griffin, Clippers
- Raymond Felton, Mavericks
- Roy Hibbert, Lakers*
- George Hill, Pacers
- Al Horford, Hawks
- Serge Ibaka, Thunder
- Ersan Ilyasova, Pistons*
- Joe Johnson, Nets
- Courtney Lee, Grizzlies
- David Lee, Celtics*
- Ian Mahinmi, Pacers
- Nene, Wizards
- Joakim Noah, Bulls
- Steve Novak, Thunder*
- Derrick Rose, Bulls
- Gerald Wallace, Sixers*
- Russell Westbrook, Thunder
The following players will become eligible for veteran extensions soon:
- Jeff Green (Grizzlies) becomes extension-eligible on Saturday.
- Ty Lawson (Rockets) becomes extension-eligible on October 30th.*
- Stephen Curry (Warriors) becomes extension-eligible on October 31st.
- DeMar DeRozan (Raptors) becomes extension-eligible on October 31st.
- Taj Gibson (Bulls) becomes extension-eligible on October 31st.
- James Harden (Rockets) becomes extension-eligible on October 31st.
- Jrue Holiday (Pelicans) becomes extension-eligible on October 31st.
See the list of players eligible for rookie scale extensions right here.
* — These players have been traded within the last six months, so they face further constraints. Veteran extensions for them can cover only two seasons, and the starting salary can be no more than 4.5% greater than the salary in the last season in the existing contract.
Keeping in mind that veteran stars have no financial motivation to sign an extension, which player or players on this list do you think would be strong extension candidates? Leave a comment to tell us.