Billy King On Lopez, Young, Trades, Teletovic
The Nets pulled together for a late season run to the playoffs and pushed the top-seeded Hawks in the opening round, but this wasn’t a successful season, GM Billy King said today to reporters, including Newsday’s Roderick Boone, at his end-of-season press conference (Twitter link). The GM didn’t address rumors that he’s close to an extension, but he had many more revelatory comments, as we’ll run down here. All links go to Twitter, unless otherwise noted:
- The team’s long-term plan is to build around Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young, King said, according to Andy Vasquez of The Record. Lopez and Young haven’t made decisions about their respective player options yet, but King said the Nets want them back regardless of whether they opt in or not, notes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.
- King said the Nets explored trading every player on the roster at some point during the season, Boone notes, and King wouldn’t rule out trades when he added that the team would continue to look into all possibilities with Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, observes Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game.
- Brooklyn, slated to pick 29th and 41st overall in June, will continue an annual tradition of trying to trade up, King said, as Kharpertian relays, but the GM insisted he’ll value draft assets more highly than in the past. “I don’t expect us to be trading any of [our future draft picks],” King said, according to Kharpertian. “We’ve done that.”
- The Nets will extend the more than $4.21MM qualifying offer required to match competing NBA offers for Mirza Teletovic in free agency this summer, King confirmed, nonetheless adding that the market will dictate the forward’s next deal, as Bontemps notes.
- The team would like a new deal with Alan Anderson, King said, according to Lenn Robbins of Nets.com, but the GM also said that the swingman may need a procedure on his ankle to deal with bone spurs, Bontemps observes.
- The goal is to avoid the luxury tax next season, and the repeat-offender penalties that would come with it, but the Nets will stay above the tax line if it’s the right thing to do, according to King, as Kharpertian relays. That’s similar to what owner Mikhail Prokhorov said last month (non-Twitter link), but it conflicts with what Bontemps has heard (non-Twitter link) from sources who’ve said the team has no interest in remaining a taxpayer.
- King said the Nets can’t keep turning the roster over from year to year and added that internal improvement is necessary, Boone notes. King pointed to rookies Bojan Bogdanovic, Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson as players who can be parts of the rotation going forward, according to Bontemps.
Minimum Salary Exception
The minimum salary exception is something of a last resort for capped-out teams seeking to add players, as well as for players seeking NBA contracts, but it’s the most commonly used cap exception. It allows an over-the-cap team to sign a player to a one- or two-year minimum-salary deal, as the name suggests. Teams can use the exception multiple times, allowing clubs that have spent all of their other exceptions an avenue to add to their rosters. It also allows for the acquisition of minimum-salary players via trade, and players signed via the minimum salary exception don’t count as incoming salary for salary-matching purposes.
Players are entitled to varying minimum salaries based on how long they’ve been in the NBA. In 2014/15, a player with no prior NBA experience was eligible for a $507,336 minimum salary, while a player with 10 or more years of experience was eligible for $1,448,490. Over the course of the current collective bargaining agreement, the minimum salary will increase each season, as Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ outlines. For 2015/16, the breakdown is as follows:
Years of experience — minimum salary
0 — $525,093
1 — $845,059
2 — $947,276
3 — $981,348
4 — $1,015,421
5 — $1,100,602
6 — $1,185,784
7 — $1,270,964
8 — $1,356,146
9 — $1,362,897
10 or more — $1,499,187
The numbers demonstrate the wide disparity between the minimum salary for rookies and for long-tenured players. A minimum-salary veteran of 10 or more seasons will earn almost three times as much as a rookie making the minimum next season. The NBA doesn’t want clubs to shy away from signing qualified veterans, so the league reimburses teams for a portion of a minimum-salary player’s cost if he has two or more years of experience, as long as the contract is a one-year deal. For instance, when the Wizards re-signed 12-year veteran Drew Gooden to a one-year deal for 2014/15 using the minimum salary exception, the contract called for a salary of $1,499,187, but the team’s cap hit was just $947,276. The league reimburses the Wizards for the remaining $551,911.
Most salary cap exceptions can only be used once each season. When a team uses its full mid-level exception to sign one or more players, the club can no longer use that exception until the following season. Unlike the mid-level and other cap exceptions, the minimum salary exception can be used any number of times in a single season. The Nets, for example, used the minimum salary exception to sign five players who ended the 2014/15 season on the team’s roster.
The vast majority of 10-day contracts are for the minimum salary, and often the minimum salary exception is the only way for clubs to accommodate any 10-day deals. Teams used the minimum salary exception to sign 48 players to 10-day contracts during the 2014/15 season.
Many exceptions begin to prorate on January 10th, but the minimum salary exception prorates from the first day of the regular season. Teams often take advantage of this to sign players for cheap at the end of the season primarily so they can use them to help salaries match in a trade over the summer, since minimum-salary players do count as outgoing salary for matching purposes.
For example, the Kings signed David Stockton on the fourth day from the end of the 2014/15 regular season. The Kings used the minimum salary exception to sign Stockton to a two-year contract that covered the final four days of the 2014/15 season and all of 2015/16. The 2015/16 portion is non-guaranteed, so the only guaranteed money in the deal was Stockton’s prorated minimum salary, equal to 4/170ths of $507,336. Stockton faces an uphill battle to make the Kings opening-night roster in 2015/16, but if the Kings make a trade over the summer, they can include Stockton’s contract as part of the swap to make the salaries match, allowing the team that acquires Stockton to do the same in another trade or simply waive his non-guaranteed contract at no cost before the 2015/16 season begins. The Kings didn’t necessarily sign Stockton with the idea of trading him, but the minimum salary exception gives the team plenty of flexibility to do so.
Earlier versions of this post appeared on May 7th, 2012, April 28th, 2013 and June 10th, 2014.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Atlantic Notes: Love, Sullinger, Tax, Jackson
Kevin Love would be much more likely to sign with the Lakers this summer if he were to leave the Cavs than to sign with the Celtics, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. It’s unclear if hard feelings over Kelly Olynyk‘s role in Love’s injury are at the root of a change or if Deveney is simply hearing different chatter than what Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports heard when he wrote last month that the C’s had closed the gap on the Lakers for Love. In any case, the C’s pursuit of Love last summer made it clear to Boston that a trade package centered around Jared Sullinger won’t be enough to land a star, as Deveney also writes in his look at the Celtics offseason. Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets have no interest in paying the luxury tax next season, when they would be in line for harsh repeat offender penalties if they did, league sources have long insisted to Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. That’s in contrast to owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s insistence a month ago that the team would pay the tax. In any case, avoiding the tax would almost certainly entail a trade of Deron Williams or, more likely, Joe Johnson, if Brook Lopez re-signs as expected, Bontemps writes.
- In the same piece, Bontemps looks at ways for the Nets to add quickness at the point and more shooting, two areas Lionel Hollins singled out for improvement in his season-ending press conference this past weekend.
- The decision Knicks owner James Dolan made to hire Isiah Thomas as president of the New York Liberty, Dolan’s WNBA team, raises questions about how the dynamic will affect Knicks president Phil Jackson, asserts Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. That’s in spite of the insistence of Thomas that he’ll have no role with the Knicks, whom he used to serve as coach and executive. Harvey Araton of The New York Times thinks it could only be a positive for Jackson, given Dolan’s strong financial commitment to the Zen Master and the notion that Dolan’s insertion of Thomas into the dynamic would absolve Jackson of some of the blame if the Knicks fail to pull out of their tailspin (Twitter links).
Magic Notes: Gordon, Dedmon, Donovan
The Magic finished with the league’s fifth-worst record this season, but they’re more likely to end up with the No. 6 pick than any other lottery selection, as the odds show. They have about as much chance to move up into the top three as they do of drafting fifth, and there’s less than a 9% chance that they’ll drop below sixth. While we wait for the lottery, which takes place two weeks from tonight, here’s more from the Magic Kingdom:
- The athleticism Aaron Gordon has to play elite-level defense was readily apparent this season for the surprising No. 4 overall pick from last year, writes Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. Still, concerns about his ability to guard taller and more physical power forwards contributes to uncertainty about his role going forward, as Robbins examines.
- Dewayne Dedmon saw plenty of minutes at power forward down the stretch under interim coach James Borrego, notes Ken Hornack of Fox Sports Florida. Hornack surmises that Dedmon will remain on the team as a defensive-minded big man unless the Magic score a marquee interior defender this summer. Still, Dedmon’s non-guaranteed salary for next season and the likelihood that the Magic hire a new coach are complicating factors.
- It’s not entirely clear if the Magic made a pitch this year to new Thunder coach Billy Donovan before Oklahoma City hired him, but they should have, argues Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. His knack for player development and experience in recruiting were among the reasons he should have been attractive to the Magic, who have plenty of young players and the cap flexibility to chase top free agents, Bianchi writes.
- Set-off rights have bumped the Magic’s cap space for 2014/15 from about $7MM to approximately $8.2MM, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (All four Twitter links). Orlando recouped about $958K of the $2MM that the team owed to Jameer Nelson thanks to the deal he signed with the Mavs last summer, while the minimum-salary pact that Glen Davis received from the Clippers scraped about $220K off the Magic’s $6.4MM obligation to Big Baby, Pincus notes. The team’s cap flexibility for next season, which officially begins in July, remains untouched, but the savings give the team extra maneuverability for when trade activity perks up at draft time, as Pincus points out.
Latest On Tom Thibodeau, Bulls, Magic
3:43pm: Bulls GM Gar Forman once more dismissed the idea of a rift between the coach and management, telling Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com that, “We’re in total agreement with Tom that it’s all just noise.” Thibodeau had made a similar comment in Wojnarowski’s report.
11:31am: A parting of ways between the Bulls and coach Tom Thibodeau is “inevitable,” as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports writes, though “maybe — just maybe” it will prove tougher to oust the coach from his job than to knock the Bulls out of the playoffs, Wojnarowski adds at the end of his column. Regardless, Bulls management is eager to be rid of Thibodeau, and its choice to replace him is Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, according to Wojnarowski. That largely falls in line with two reports from late last month, when Grantland’s Zach Lowe heard that people close to Thibodeau were convinced the Bulls would fire him at season’s end and Tim Bontemps of the New York Post wrote that many view Hoiberg as his likely replacement.
The Magic are waiting to see how the dynamic between Thibodeau and the Bulls plays out, Wojnarowski reports, just as many have been speculating, as Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel recently noted. It’s believed that the Bulls will seek some sort of compensation for letting Thibodeau out of his contract, which runs through 2016/17, to coach elsewhere, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes in his NBA AM piece. Kyler suggests that the Bulls wouldn’t demand as much as other teams have sought for coaches lately, given Chicago’s apparent eagerness to move on from Thibodeau, though the Basketball Insiders scribe also suggests the need to pony up compensation might dissuade Orlando from pursuing the coach. The Clippers relinquished this year’s first-round pick for the right to hire Doc Rivers, and the Bucks gave up two second-round picks for Jason Kidd. Thibodeau is close with former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, whom Orlando fired in 2012, Lowe points out, speculating that the dynamic could pose another hurdle to Thibodeau ending up with the Magic.
Former Thunder coach Scott Brooks is second behind Thibodeau on the Magic’s list of preferred candidates, sources tell Kyler, and the team is considering Warriors assistant Alvin Gentry, too, Kyler adds. Kyler hears the Magic, like the Nuggets, the other team with a coaching vacancy, have had “small informal talks” but that neither team is expected to begin formal interviews soon.
Thibodeau’s future with Chicago is in serious doubt in spite of support from Bulls star Derrick Rose, as Wojnarowski details. That backing has helped prolong Thibodeau’s stay in Chicago to this point, but it wouldn’t forestall the end for the coach this summer, Wojnarowski writes. Rose is also under contract through 2016/17.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Biannual Exception
The most common method over-the-cap teams use to sign free agents from other teams is the mid-level exception, but it’s not the only tool those clubs can use to squeeze an extra player onto the payroll. The biannual exception is a way to sign a player who commands more than the minimum salary and less than the mid-level.
As its name suggests, the biannual exception can only be used every other year. Even if a team uses only a portion of the exception, it becomes unavailable the following year.
The biannual exception is available only to limited number of clubs, even among those that didn’t use the biannual the season before. Teams with player salaries, cap holds and cap exceptions that add up to less than the salary cap lose their biannual exception, as well as their full mid-level exception and any trade exceptions. Additionally, teams lose access to the biannual exception when they go more than $4MM over the tax threshold, exceeding what’s known as the tax apron. So, only teams over the cap but under the tax apron can use the biannual exception.
If a team uses all or part of the biannual exception, it triggers a hard cap for that season. Clubs that sign a player using the biannual can’t go over the tax apron at any time during the season in which the contract is signed.
The biannual exception provides for a starting salary of $2.139MM in 2014/15. That’s approximately 3% greater than the starting salary in a biannual deal this past season, and the starting salary of the biannual exception will continue to rise by about 3% each year under the collective bargaining agreement. A biannual contract can be for either one or two seasons, with a raise of 4.5% for the second season. Teams also have the option of splitting the exception among multiple players, though that happens much less frequently than it does with the mid-level exception, since a split biannual deal wouldn’t entail much more than the minimum salary. The biannual exception starts to pro-rate on January 10th.
Five teams used the biannual exception in 2014/15, the same number of teams that spent it in 2013/14. The Spurs had the biannual available for use last summer when they gave Aron Baynes a one-year contract equivalent to the value of the starting salary for a biannual deal, but San Antonio used part of its mid-level instead, preserving the chance to use the biannual again this year. Here’s a list of each team that used the biannual for 2014/15 and the players to whom they committed it:
- Rockets — Josh Smith
- Clippers — Jordan Farmar
- Grizzlies — Beno Udrih
- Trail Blazers — Steve Blake
- Kings — Ramon Sessions
Those five teams are ineligible to sign a player via the biannual in 2015/16. That’s true for Houston even though Smith only signed a one-year contract, for Portland even if Blake opts out, for the Clippers and Kings even though Farmar and Sessions are no longer with those respective teams, and Memphis even if it waives Udrih’s partially guaranteed deal.
Earlier versions of this post appeared on April 23rd, 2012, May 1st, 2013 and May 27th, 2014.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and the Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Eastern Notes: Williams, King, Bucks, Heat
The Nets have the power to waive Deron Williams using the stretch provision and spread the salaries on his deal, which calls for him to make more than $21.043MM next season with a player option for $22.331MM in 2016/17, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe notes. It would be unwise to dismiss that possibility, writes Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com, but a buyout would be more plausible, a source suggested to Mazzeo. In any case, it’s likely that the Nets will continue to try to shop the point guard, though talks with the Kings probably won’t resurface, Mazzeo surmises. There’s more on the Nets amid the latest from the Eastern Conference:
- Mazzeo was privy to chatter similar to the “serious rumblings” that Lowe heard indicating that the Nets and GM Billy King are close to an extension, though Mazzeo hasn’t heard confirmation of the rumor. A source nonetheless recently told Robert Windrem of NetsDaily that the Nets and King had engaged in no such negotiations.
- Bucks GM John Hammond admits the deadline deal that sent out Brandon Knight was one made with the future in mind, but he says the team won’t wait around for the chance to win, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com relays. “Make no mistake,” Hammond said. “If we can attract the right kind of player for our team today, we will be as aggressive as possible starting this summer.” The Bucks are a “borderline lock” to make a trade in the offseason if Khris Middleton and Jared Dudley return, Lowe writes in the piece linked above, given the team’s incoming first-round pick and all of the players Milwaukee already has under contract.
- Goran Dragic appears likely to re-sign with the Heat, and the team believes it’ll have a roster that can contend as long as Luol Deng, who has a player option, returns, writes Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post. Long-term commitments from the team’s core would mean less of a need, and less flexibility for, a free agent push in 2016, as Lieser examines.
Offseason Outlook: Portland Trail Blazers
Guaranteed Contracts
- Nicolas Batum ($12,235,750)
- Meyers Leonard ($3,075,880)
- Damian Lillard ($4,236,287)
- C.J. McCollum ($2,525,160)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Allen Crabbe ($947,276)
- Tim Frazier ($845,069)
- Chris Kaman ($5,016,000)1
Options
- Arron Afflalo ($7,750,000 — Player)2
- Steve Blake ($2,170,465 — Player)3
Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- Joel Freeland ($5,725,673) — $3,766,890 qualifying offer
Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds
- LaMarcus Aldridge ($18,960,000)4
- Robin Lopez ($9,187,094)5
- Wesley Matthews ($10,868,460)
- Dorell Wright ($4,075,500)
- No. 23 pick ($1,112,900)
- Alonzo Gee ($947,276)
- (Earl Watson $947,276)6
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (23rd overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $23,073,077
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $5,808,345
- Options: $9,920,465
- Cap Holds: $48,548,397
- Total: $87,350,284
Portland’s offseason hinges on one name: LaMarcus Aldridge. It’ll be up to him to decide whether he continues to wear a Trail Blazers uniform or not, and there will surely be a maximum-salary offer from the Blazers waiting there for the Arn Tellem client, with his choice of contract length and option clauses. Aldridge appears, by many accounts, to be reconsidering the pledge he made last summer to re-sign with the team in the offseason ahead, one that he reiterated this past fall as the season began.
It’s not the first time that the 29-year-old, who turns 30 in July, has wavered on a decision. It seemed as recently as two years ago that his exit from Portland was inevitable as he appeared eager to leave a rebuilding situation behind, but Portland’s quick turnaround in 2013/14 had him talking extension midway through the season. Aldridge put an end to extension talk when he said last summer that he would re-sign when his contract was up in 2015, though that was merely a prudent financial move on his part, as collective bargaining rules greatly disincentivize veteran extensions.
It’s unclear what’s triggered Aldridge’s renewed interest in leaving the Blazers. Portland stumbled down the stretch and fell quietly in the first round of the playoffs, but injuries played an outsized role in that, and Aldridge’s subpar 33.0% shooting in the Grizzlies series contributed to the team’s demise, too. Of course, Aldridge was battling an injury of his own, a torn ligament in his left thumb that was supposed to knock him out for six to eight weeks this season. Instead, he put off surgery and played through it, a decision that seemed only to further cement his status as a Blazers legend before doubts about his future with the team crept in.
Regardless, the Blazers would clearly prefer to keep Aldridge if they can, but if that proves impossible, they won’t be left without a way to contend next season, as was the case when LeBron James and Dwight Howard left their respective teams in recent years. The departure of Aldridge would leave Portland with a chance to open some $40MM in room against a projected $67.1MM cap, about enough to sign two 30% max free agents. More importantly, Damian Lillard‘s presence looms as reason for max-level players to entertain the idea of playing in Portland, as does GM Neil Olshey‘s track record of building winners with the Clippers and Blazers. Portland, in a vacuum, wouldn’t necessarily be an attractive destination to marquee free agents, but with a budding superstar and a canny executive at the helm, the Blazers can put forth a convincing case to stars that they can win.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com raised an intriguing possibility last week when he suggested that the Cavs could enter the picture for Aldridge as a sign-and-trade destination if Kevin Love were to pull a reversal of his own and change his plan to opt in. Love is a California native and went to UCLA, but he first burst onto the national basketball scene while attending high school in suburban Portland. The Blazers would offer him the chance to return to a familiar place and a more expansive role next to Lillard than he’s had with both James and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland. A sign-and-trade would be tricky, since teams over the tax apron can’t take on players via sign-and-trade and Cleveland is in line to zoom well into tax territory, but on the off chance Love does opt out, the Blazers could just sign him outright.
Greg Monroe, to whom the Blazers were linked last summer, looms as a much more obtainable possibility, and so would Roy Hibbert, if he opts out, as Hibbert was reportedly ready to sign an offer sheet with the Blazers in 2012 before the Pacers made it clear they’d match. Of course, Hibbert hasn’t performed like a star lately and probably wouldn’t merit the max, and there are plenty of soon-to-be free agent big men whom Portland might find more valuable, like DeAndre Jordan, Paul Millsap, Brook Lopez and Tristan Thompson. None aside from Love and Marc Gasol are Aldridge’s equal among interior players in this year’s free agent class, but Gasol seems committed to Memphis.
Of course, Aldridge isn’t the only significant soon-to-be free agent in Portland. The value of Wesley Matthews has never been more apparent than over the last two months since the theretofore remarkably durable shooting guard tore his left Achilles tendon. The fortunes of just about every Blazers free agent seem intrinsically linked to Aldridge, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Portland pushes hard to bring back Matthews regardless of what happens with the power forward. It’s uncertain if the Knicks have abandoned their reported interest in the wake of the injury, which threatens to keep him from starting next season on time, and surely other teams will be wary of his recovery. Matthews turns 29 in October, but the injury is far from a death knell for his long-term productivity. If the Blazers are willing to stomach a market value deal given the possibility of a lengthy recovery and a slow adjustment to playing again, they can probably bring back one of their anchors, as he’s expressed a preference to remain in Portland.
The Blazers acquired Arron Afflalo at the deadline to serve as a sixth man behind Matthews, but the former Nuggets shooting guard wound up starting before missing time with an injury of his own to his shoulder. That injury cost Afflalo time in the postseason and was conceivably at the root of his woeful performance, but he nonetheless reportedly plans to opt out. He stands as an in-house alternative to Matthews, but the emergence of C.J. McCollum, who’s on a rookie deal much cheaper than what Afflalo will surely command, casts doubt on Portland’s need to hang on to the Sam Goldfeder client. Still, if all of the team’s other key free agents come back at salaries commensurate to what they’re making now, it would be difficult for the Blazers to afford a replacement who can produce the way Afflalo does.
Robin Lopez appeared to be the missing piece last season, when the Blazers shot from 33-49 to 54-28 and a first-round playoff series victory. The 27-year-old’s production slipped this season, though part of that had to do with a dip in playing time as the Blazers sought to make use of an upgraded bench. His game might not be quite as complementary to a big man who isn’t Aldridge, so if Aldridge leaves this summer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Blazers look elsewhere for a starting center. Lopez would be a natural draw for brother Brook Lopez, but Brook appears likely to opt out and re-sign with the Nets, and the twins probably wouldn’t be as effective an on-court pairing as they were at Stanford.
Complicating the frontcourt for the Blazers is Meyers Leonard‘s candidacy for a rookie scale extension this summer. The former 11th overall pick rebuilt his game and added a three-point shot after falling out of the rotation last season, and he was strong on the boards in the playoffs, averaging 11.2 rebounds per 36 minutes. He switched agents, hiring the Creative Artists Agency and Aaron Mintz, a hint that he intends to push for a deal this summer.
Of course, Leonard isn’t the most prominent Blazer up for a rookie scale extension. That distinction belongs to Lillard, who’s already made it clear that he has no plans to settle for less than a full five-year max deal. Portland probably won’t hesitate to give it to him and jump at the chance to secure the two-time All-Star for the long term. Regardless of whether the extension would prompt Aldridge to chafe against the notion that he’s not the team’s top priority, a feeling he sensed earlier in his career, the Blazers can’t afford to dally with Lillard. Quickly securing the elite point guard in the first few days of July would allow marquee free agents to bank on the chance that they’d have a star running mate for years to come if they were to sign with Portland. Aldridge might not want to be a team’s No. 2 priority, but surely other talented free agents would.
There’s little doubt that Aldridge holds all the cards this summer in Portland, but unlike some other teams, the Blazers don’t have all their chips in front of a single superstar. The preferable outcome involves the power forward returning, but the Blazers have the wherewithal to quickly jump back into contention this coming season or in 2015/16 if he bolts.
Cap Footnotes
1 — Kaman’s salary is partially guaranteed for $1,000,000.
2 — The cap hold for Afflalo if he opts out would be $11,625,000
3 — The cap hold for Blake if he opts out would be $2,492,400
4 — The cap hold for Aldridge will be the lesser of $24,384,000 and the NBA’s maximum salary for a veteran of nine seasons. It will likely be the latter, so an estimate is used above.
5 — This presumes the estimated average salary for 2015/16 won’t be equal to or greater than Lopez’s $6,124,729 salary from this season. If it is, Lopez’s cap hold would instead be $11,636,985.
6 — See our glossary entry on cap holds for an explanation why Watson technically remains on the books.
The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Western Notes: Brooks, Dumars, Bonner, Draft
The Nuggets are intensifying their search for a new coach this week after having spent the past few weeks focused on scouting and the draft, reports Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. They’ll likely chat with former Thunder coach Scott Brooks, among others, Dempsey writes amid a mailbag column, though it’s unclear if he’ll receive a formal interview. The hiring process is expected to last most if not all of May and GM Tim Connelly will collaborate with team president Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan Kroenke, on the decision, as Dempsey details in his first piece. There’s more on the Nuggets amid the latest from around the Western Conference:
- New rumors have surfaced suggesting that the possibility of the Pelicans hiring Joe Dumars remains in play for what would be a supervisory role above GM Dell Demps, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher first linked the former Pistons exec to New Orleans in January.
- Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News lists Matt Bonner among the Spurs contemplating retirement. Bonner, who turned 35 last month, signed a one-year deal for the minimum to return to San Antonio last summer.
- Dempsey believes that if Nuggets end up with the No. 7 pick, their likeliest first-round position as the lottery odds show, they’d try to trade it for a pick higher in the order or attempt to deal for a second top-seven pick, as the Post scribe writes in the mailbag column linked above.
- Former Michigan State swingman Russell Byrd will be among the draft prospects at a workout the Jazz will hold Wednesday, sources tell Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops (Twitter link). Byrd is unlisted in the rankings that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com compile.
Nets Close To Extension With GM Billy King?
10:41am: A league source recently told NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem that the Nets and King hadn’t engaged in extension talks (Twitter link).
10:01am: There are “serious rumblings” that the Nets are about to reach a contract extension with GM Billy King, though Nets higher-ups have been tight-lipped, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. King signed a multiyear extension with the team two years ago, and while the length of the arrangement wasn’t clear at the time, he currently has one more year left on his contract, according to Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game.
Owner Mikhail Prokhorov stopped short of saying last month he would rule out changes in the front office this summer, but he offered praise for King’s “bold” approach to the roster. Instead, it would appear that the future of assistant GM Bobby Marks is in doubt, as Mike Mazzeo reported last week and as Lowe notes in his report today, referring to Marks as a “cap whiz.” The team didn’t pick up its option on Marks, who’s risen within the Nets organization from the role of public relations intern 20 years ago, by the May 1st deadline to do so, according to Mazzeo, though the club could still re-sign the executive later in the offseason, Mazzeo cautioned.
King has drawn criticism as the Nets have failed to capitalize on bloated payrolls the last two seasons, including the record outlay of some $190MM in payroll and luxury tax penalties last season. Still, the Nets have been supportive of King, resisting former coach Jason Kidd‘s attempt to wrest player personnel control from the GM.