Southeast Notes: Ariza, Bosh, Magic, Curry
The presence of mainstays Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem is a decided advantage for the Heat, as each of them turned down lucrative player options for the betterment of the team and re-signed with Miami for less this summer. Coach Erik Spoelstra believes that franchises that have players like that are in an even better position under the latest collective bargaining agreement, one that’s brought about shorter contracts and rapid-fire player movement, as Spoelstra explains to Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald. Indeed, that sort of loyalty is hard to come by, and it helps explain why either the Heat, Spurs, Lakers or both have appeared in each of the last 16 NBA Finals. Here’s more on the Heat and their Southeast Division rivals:
- Trevor Ariza insists the lack of state income tax in Texas was significant enough financial motivation for him to sign with the Rockets for the same four years and $32MM that the Wizards offered, as he tells Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Until the finances got in the way, Ariza says to Lee that he was fully expecting to return to the Wizards. “I thought I was going to be a Wizard for a long time, but when that didn’t happen [the Rockets] definitely pursued me the hardest,” Ariza said. “Everything happens for a reason. It’s a business. So sometimes, teams make business decisions and you’ve got to live with that. I grew up in this league, obviously, I was 19 [when he was drafted]. So I’ve matured. So in life, I moreso understand the business of things and accept it.”
- Chris Bosh was one of several players who signed long-term deals this summer that carry through 2016, the first year that the new TV contracts kick in, but he told reporters today that the allure of guaranteed max money for five years was too much to pass up. Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald tweets the details.
- The Magic‘s D-League affiliate traded for the D-League rights to Seth Curry today, the club announced. Curry is in NBA camp with the Magic, but it’ll be tough for him make the opening-night roster on his partially guaranteed deal. So, the D-League swap signals that Orlando would like to keep a close eye on Curry should he decide to play in the D-League in the likely event that the Magic waive him at the end of the preseason.
Stein’s Latest: Parsons, Cavs, Mavs, Rockets
Rockets GM Daryl Morey and Mavs owner Mark Cuban downplay the intensity of their personal rivalry in interviews with Marc Stein of ESPN.com, even though both have made some incendiary statements about the other. Their teams have been involved in a tug-of-war over high-powered free agents in the past few summers, and the case of Chandler Parsons brought the rivalry into focus. Stein’s piece sheds light on many unreported aspects of Parsons’ free agency, and the entire piece is worth a read, particularly for Mavs and Rockets fans. We’ll share the most newsworthy tidbits here:
- The Cavs were the most fervent suitor of Parsons early in free agency this summer, viewing him as a plan B if LeBron James didn’t return, and Kyrie Irving, a friend of Parsons’, tried to recruit him to Cleveland, as Stein chronicles. The Mavs weren’t willing to wait on a definitive “no” from either LeBron or Carmelo Anthony before swooping in with their offer sheet, one that Parsons agreed to rather than sign a two-year max deal that the Rockets offered, Stein also reports.
- Parsons told Stein he would have re-signed with the Rockets for less early in free agency, and Stein hears he sought a four-year, $48MM deal from Houston, which was instead engaged in a pursuit of more established stars.
- Cuban was honest with Parsons about the risk that he was taking, as he explains to Stein. “I told Chandler from the start [of free agency]: ‘Do you want me to be brutally honest with you?'” Cuban said. “And he said yes. So I told him with as much granularity as I could that I think it’s a 10% chance at best that we could get ‘Melo, but we had to try. Then, we started hearing our percentage was getting higher, and I told Chandler that, too. But then, when we weren’t hearing a whole lot from the Melo camp, we knew we were pretty much out. So I told Chandler [on July 9th]: ‘I could end up being the dumbest idiot in NBA history, but even if LeBron comes back to us and says he’s choosing us, I’m committing to you.'”
- The Mavs were also high on Gordon Hayward and Eric Bledsoe, but they found Parsons the most obtainable of the three restricted free agents they wanted most, Stein writes.
- Morey pursued Kyle Lowry early in free agency, but cooled on him and turned his attention to Chris Bosh instead, as Stein explains. Bosh seemed on his way to the Rockets before he inked a five-year max deal with the Heat, and even Morey thought that he had Bosh within his clutches, as he admits to Stein. “Given our understanding of where things were,” Morey said, “we felt like we were 95 percent-plus to potentially having the best team in the league. There was nothing promised, but I did believe [Bosh] was coming in almost every scenario except the one that happened at the last minute [Miami trumping Houston’s offer with a five-year max].”
- The Rockets agreed to trade Jeremy Lin to the Lakers before receiving a commitment from Bosh because the Lakers refused to wait any longer and because a trade proposal from the Sixers instead would have cost multiple first-rounders instead of just one.
- The Rockets, like many teams, are turning their eyes to 2016, and they plan to let James Harden act as the primary recruiter for former teammate Kevin Durant, who can hit free agency that summer, Stein writes.
- Agent Dan Fegan proposed the structure of the three-year offer sheet that Parsons signed with the Mavs, and the three-year length, in particular, drew raves from Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace, who noted its contrast with the typical four-year offer sheet, as Stein passed along. Cavs GM David Griffin also expressed admiration for the deal, as he tells Stein. “The contract structure was extremely creative,” Griffin said. “I think it will be a significant moment in the way restricted free agency discussions are handled in the future.”
Players Who Inked Deals That Run Through 2016
LeBron James and agent Rich Paul appear to have won the slight gamble they took when they let the Cavs sign James for just two years, with a player option after year one, rather than take a full four-year maximum contract. The new TV contracts are vastly more lucrative than the ones currently in effect, and the league revenues that result will lift the salary cap and player salaries around the league.
Most of the deals that players signed this summer either run just one or two seasons or include player options that allow the signees to hit free agency in the summer of 2016, when the TV money starts to roll in. It’s not quite clear just if or how the NBA will phase in the increases to the salary cap, but as it stands, 2016 is front and center on the minds of many around the league.
Still, there were several players who agreed to long-term deals this summer that won’t allow them to elect free agency in 2016. The prevailing assumption during the offseason was that TV money would increase revenues and the cap come 2016, but none of these free agents were likely aware of just how much the networks were willing to pay.
Not all of the players on the list below signed deals that were financially unfriendly to them. Few would argue that Nick Young cheated himself when he signed a four-year deal worth more than $21.3MM with the Lakers. Still, others might have been able to reap more had they taken a short-term deal to re-enter the market when teams will have more to spend.
This list doesn’t include rookie scale contracts or other deals signed by first-year players, many of whom don’t have the leverage to be choosy about the lengths of their contracts. The year in parentheses by each player’s name is the year that he can first hit free agency by his own volition, either by turning down a player option, exercising an early-termination option, or simply by playing out his contract. It doesn’t take into account team option years or non-guaranteed years. Teams can always terminate a contract early, setting the player up for free agency sooner, though that’s unlikely to happen if the player is still performing well enough to command a lucrative payday on the open market.
In any case, here are the veteran free agents who signed deals this summer that don’t allow them to choose to hit free agency in the summer of 2016:
- Carmelo Anthony, Knicks (2018)
- Trevor Ariza, Rockets (2018)
- DeJuan Blair, Wizards (2017)
- Eric Bledsoe, Suns (2019)
- Chris Bosh, Heat (2019)
- Avery Bradley, Celtics (2018)
- Vince Carter, Grizzlies (2017)
- Darren Collison, Kings (2017)
- Boris Diaw, Spurs (2018)
- Channing Frye, Magic (2018)
- Pau Gasol, Bulls (2017)
- Marcin Gortat, Wizards (2019)
- Devin Harris, Mavericks (2018)
- Spencer Hawes, Clippers (2017)
- Gordon Hayward, Jazz (2017)
- Kris Humphries, Wizards (2017)
- Grant Jerrett, Thunder (2018)
- Shaun Livingston, Warriors (2017)
- Kyle Lowry, Raptors (2017)
- Josh McRoberts, Heat (2017)
- Shelvin Mack, Hawks (2017)
- Jodie Meeks, Pistons (2017)
- C.J. Miles, Pacers (2017)
- Patty Mills, Spurs (2017)
- Anthony Morrow, Thunder (2017)
- Patrick Patterson, Raptors (2017)
- Mike Scott, Hawks (2017)
- Thabo Sefolosha, Hawks (2017)
- Lance Stephenson, Hornets (2017)
- Isaiah Thomas, Suns (2018)
- P.J. Tucker, Suns (2017)
- Nick Young, Lakers (2017)
Six others agreed to extensions that will take them past the summer of 2016:
- Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers (2019)
- Marcus Morris, Suns (2019)
- Markieff Morris, Suns (2019)
- Tony Parker, Spurs (2018)
- Zach Randolph, Grizzlies (2017)
- Kenneth Faried, Nuggets (2019 or 2020)*
* — The length of Faried’s deal, which has yet to become official, remains unclear.
Semaj Christon To Play In D-League
Second-round draft pick Semaj Christon has agreed to play for the Thunder’s D-League affiliate this year, agent Doug Neustadt tells Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Thunder will retain the NBA rights to the point guard, whom they acquired via trade from the Hornets, after Charlotte originally picked him up from the Heat. News about this year’s No. 55 overall pick was scarce during the summer, and Oklahoma City left him off its training camp roster, indicating that Christon was destined either for the D-League or an overseas deal.
The 6’3″ Christon, who turns 22 next month, was more of a scoring guard than a traditional point man in college for Xavier, having put up 17.0 points in 35.3 minutes per game as a sophomore this past season while balancing 4.2 assists against 2.6 turnovers each night. He added proficiency from behind the arc to his game this year, nailing 38.8% of his three-point attempts.
The Thunder are taking advantage of a new D-League rule that allows them to retain the D-League rights to Christon, who would have been subject to the D-League draft in years past. That’ll prevent the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s D-League team, from having to trade to secure his rights, as they did last year with Thunder second-rounder Grant Jerrett. Two of the three players the Thunder acquired through this year’s NBA draft will play for their D-League team this year, as Christon will join No. 29 overall pick Josh Huestis.
Fallout From NBA’s New TV Contracts
The NBA’s new TV contracts will have broad effects on the league in the years to come, and commissioner Adam Silver addressed some of those in a press conference today. Other reports have also spoken to the scope of the media package, including its impact on the next collective bargaining agreement negotiations in 2017, and we’ll pass them along here, with the latest update on top:
4:56pm update:
- James denied the earlier report (below) that he and Paul are attempting to do away with max contracts, as Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group relays.
4:06pm update:
- Each team will receive between $70MM and $100MM annually thanks to the new TV deal, according to early projections, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Teams are set to see $35MM each of the next two seasons, the final years under the existing deal, Stein adds (on Twitter).
12:30pm update:
- The TV deal guarantees the players will receive 51% of the league’s basketball-related income starting with the 2016/17 season, Beck notes (Twitter links). The collective bargaining agreement holds that the players will receive that percentage if revenue exceeds the projections made when the league and the players negotiated the CBA in 2011, at which time no one forecast quite so much TV money.
11:07am update:
- It doesn’t appear as though there will be a significant jump in the cap for the 2015/16 season, Bontemps hears (Twitter link). It’s more likely that a phasing in of cap increases would limit the amount of the cap for 2016/17 and backload the rises into later years, as Bontemps adds in a second tweet.
- Silver has ruled out making 2015/16 part of a phase-in, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck tweets.
10:30am update:
- Some team executives are estimating the new TV revenue would allow the cap to rise to as much as $91.2MM for 2016/17, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Max contracts for veterans of 10 or more years would start at $28.2MM under that structure, up from $20.6444MM this year, Berger adds. The CBSSports.com columnist also notes that a “vocal component” among the field of NBA agents has long been pushing for the elimination of max salaries, just as LeBron reportedly is, as we passed along below.
10:01am update:
- Silver acknowledged the idea of gradually phasing in the dramatic leap in the salary cap that the new TV money will prompt, citing what the National Football League has done as a precedent, as Tim Bontemps of the New York Post notes (via Twitter). The commissioner added that he’ll meet today with players association executive director Michele Roberts about the idea, Bontemps also tweets. Still, Silver suggested that the discussion isn’t too far along, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe observes (Twitter link). It’s unclear if gradual increases would mean a higher cap for next summer than there otherwise would be, a lower cap for 2016 than there otherwise would be, or both.
- LeBron James is pushing for drastic increases to or the elimination of the maximum salary for players in the next collective bargaining agreement, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The presence of Chris Paul, a friend of LeBron’s, as president of the players association could prompt the union to make it a point in negotiations come 2017, when both sides can opt out of the existing CBA, Windhorst adds. As it stands, veterans of 10 or more years are in line to see their maxes go up by more than $6MM come the summer of 2016, with vets of seven or more years in line for $4MM+ increases, according to Windhorst’s projections (Twitter link).
- The new TV deal won’t kick in until after the current deal expires in the summer of 2016, but Silver said today that he was “determined” to finish negotiations before the season began, USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt tweets.
- David Stern confided in owners during the last years of his tenure that he expected the new TV deal would double in value, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com, who notes that Stern’s estimate wound up low.
Latest On Ricky Rubio
The Wolves appear to have upped their offer to Ricky Rubio, as Sean Deveney of The Sporting News hears their best proposal involved four years at around $48MM. The sides are still far apart, and Minnesota has no intention to pay the max, Deveney writes. Rubio’s agent, Dan Fegan, has reportedly asked for a five-year max deal, which would likely come in at around $85MM, while the team had apparently been seeking a four-year arrangement for around $43MM. Rubio, who turns 24 this month, and Wolves owner Glen Taylor reportedly spoke several times the week before camp and expressed mutual interest in reaching a deal on an extension, but it seems there’s still much ground to cover.
One of the primary points of debate has involved the length of the deal, as the Timberwolves seem to be insistent on a four-year arrangement. That would allow the club to save the Designated Player title for Andrew Wiggins, while five years for Rubio would mean the club would be unable to sign Wiggins to a five-year extension when he becomes eligible in 2017 if Rubio is still on the team.
The Wolves have until October 31st to strike a deal and keep Rubio out of restricted free agency next summer, and the decision is critical for the team, as Charlie Adams of Hoops Rumors examined when he looked at the former fifth overall pick as an extension candidate. Still, the Wolves would have the power to match offers next summer if they decline to do an extension. Depending on whether others ink extensions, Rajon Rondo, Kemba Walker, Reggie Jackson and Brandon Knight loom as ample competition on the market for free agent point guards in 2015.
Atlantic Notes: Pierce, Lockout, ‘Melo, Johnson
Paul Pierce originally thought he’d wind up re-signing with the Nets, but he tells TNT’s David Aldridge that Brooklyn never made an offer, as Aldridge writes in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Pierce said the Clippers looked like Plan B, but the Nets wouldn’t accommodate a sign-and-trade once Doc Rivers used the team’s mid-level exception on Spencer Hawes instead.
“You know what, I didn’t know what to expect,” Pierce said. “Brooklyn’s been, or New Jersey, Brooklyn, they’re a franchise that’s going in a different direction, I think. They said they wanted to cut costs; they felt like they weren’t going to be a contender. Right now, they’re kind of in the middle right now. And I really didn’t want to be in the middle. I didn’t know if they wanted to do a sign-and-trade. I had to make my own destiny. I couldn’t put it in the faith of somebody else. And that’s when I was like, I’m coming here [to the Wizards].”
The reference to New Jersey seems like a subtle twist of the knife on Pierce’s part, given the desire of Nets brass to establish the Brooklyn monicker, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News points out. Here’s more from around the Atlantic.
- Nets union representative Deron Williams believes the league and the players are on a path toward a work stoppage in 2017, noting that preparing for one was the focus of a union meeting in July, as he told reporters, including Bondy, who writes in a separate piece.
- Carmelo Anthony said today that he had no interest this summer in signing a two-year deal, as LeBron James and others did, to take advantage of the influx of TV revenues, notes Chris Herring of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link).
- The Celtics had hoped to find a way to keep Chris Johnson amid the flurry of transactions surrounding the Keith Bogans trade, notes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com. The Sixers claimed him off waivers after the C’s let him go.
Western Notes: Mavs, Grizzlies, Aldridge, Barea
Charlie Villanueva has impressed Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, who insists Villanueva’s lack of guaranteed money won’t prevent the team from keeping him for opening night, as Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com chronicles.
“It’s going to come down to who plays the best, who fills needs,” Carlisle said. “And we’ll go from there. Mark [Cuban]’s the kind of owner, he’s not going to let a few dollars get in the way of keeping the right team together.”
Still, it’d cost the Mavs, who have 15 guaranteed contracts plus partial guarantees with Eric Griffin and Ivan Johnson, at least $991,482 in dead money to waive the players necessary for them to keep Villanueva, unless they can work out some sort of trade. While we wait to see just how much Cuban is willing to sacrifice, here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace told Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal that he wasn’t explicitly told not to perform his duties while former CEO Jason Levien was in charge of the team, as Tillery writes in a subscription-only piece. Wallace clarified that he made his own choice to remove himself from player personnel, Tillery notes. Wallace also made a run at openings with the Kings last year and Cavs earlier this year, according to Tillery.
- The new TV deal won’t affect LaMarcus Aldridge‘s plan to sign a long-term deal with the Blazers this summer, a source tells The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman, pointing out that the maximum salary goes up as the salary cap does. Still, it’s worth noting that cap figures only affect the amount of a max contract for the first season of the deal, and since it appears unlikely the cap will rise dramatically until the summer of 2016, there’s still plenty of incentive for Aldridge to sign a short-term deal instead.
- Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders didn’t seem merely to be trying to up J.J. Barea‘s trade value when he said the guard was one of the team’s best performers in camp again this year, writes Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.
- The NBA’s national TV deal isn’t the only one due for a sharp increase, as some predictions have the Clippers local TV rights fees increasing to $80MM annually from the $20MM the team receives each year under the current arrangement, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. The existing deal is up after the 2015/16 season, Kennedy notes (on Twitter).
Bucks To Release Chris Wright
Small forward Chris Wright has left the Bucks to accept an offer to play overseas instead, coach Jason Kidd told reporters, including Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links). Kidd said it was Wright’s choice to leave, so it appears the team will accommodate his request and release him. The coach said he didn’t know which team Wright would join, but Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times indicates (via Twitter) that Wright is headed to Greece, the home of Panathinaikos, a team that’s reportedly been in pursuit of the 26-year-old in recent days.
Milwaukee followed up a pair of 10-day contracts with Wright last season and inked him to a deal that extended into 2014/15 with a non-guaranteed minimum salary. The former Dayton Flyer appeared in eight games last season, his second in the NBA after a stint with the Warriors in 2011/12, and he averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per contest for the Bucks. Still, it looked like he had little shot of remaining with the team, since Milwaukee has 14 fully guaranteed contracts plus a non-guaranteed deal with Kendall Marshall, who’s likely to be part of the team’s rotation this year.
The departure of the Octagon Sports client nonetheless seemingly gives Elijah Millsap and Micheal Eric a boost in their longshot bids to make the opening-night roster, since it eliminates competition. Wright is not to be confused with the former Mavs shooting guard by the same name.
Lowe’s Latest: Lockout, TV Deal, Salary Cap
We’re keeping track of today’s latest on the league’s landmark TV deal in the post linked here, but the latest dispatch from Grantland’s Zach Lowe contains enough news that it makes sense to highlight it by itself. The entire piece is worth reading if you want to wrap your head around the true, broad-reaching effects of the influx of new cash, but we’ll hit the most noteworthy parts here:
- Commissioner Adam Silver has begun trying to convince owners not to lock out players in 2017, Lowe reports. Former commish David Stern didn’t have a tight grip on a new wave of more financially motivated owners around the league, but that same group likes Silver, according to Lowe. Still, players are “furious” about the increase in league revenues not long after the latest collective bargaining agreement reduced the players’ share of revenues from 57% to 50% when it took effect, Lowe writes.
- In 2011, the union proposed allowing players to receive a cut when an NBA team is sold, but the league quickly torpedoed the idea and would rather have engaged in an even lengthier lockout than concede on that issue, as Lowe details.
- The plan for now is for ABC/ESPN and Time Warner to pay a combined $2.1 billion in 2016/17, with gradual yearly raises that bring the rights fees to $3.1 billion in 2024/25, the final year of the deal, sources tell Lowe.
- Executives from some teams have advanced the idea of inserting extra money into existing player contracts that cover seasons in which the league will be receiving the new TV revenue, Lowe also hears.
- The league would like to have a plan for phasing in increases to the salary cap and an update to the existing $66.5MM cap projection for 2015/16 ready by the end of the Board of Governors meeting later this month, Lowe reports. Still, the Grantland scribe believes that such a deadline will be difficult to meet.