New Dates Set For Option Decisions, Salary Guarantees, More
As part of the revised Collective Bargaining Agreement terms that the NBA and NBPA have agreed to, a series of option decision deadlines, salary guarantee dates, and other offseason dates and deadlines have been pushed back.
We don’t yet have a full list that outlines how every date and deadline will be adjusted, but in cases where a deadline fell slightly before or after the start of the 2020/21 league year, those dates have been pushed back to coincide with the new start date for the league year, which will begin on October 19 rather than July 1.
For instance, as Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets, player option decisions for Gordon Hayward (Celtics), DeMar DeRozan (Spurs), Mike Conley (Jazz), and Andre Drummond (Cavaliers) will now be due on October 17 instead of June 29. Lakers big man Anthony Davis will have to decide on his 2020/21 player option by October 14, one day after a potential NBA Finals Game 7, Charania adds.
[RELATED: Re-Examining NBA Player Options For 2020/21]
Meanwhile, the salary guarantee date for four Knicks veterans – Reggie Bullock, Taj Gibson, Wayne Ellington, and Elfrid Payton – who currently have $1MM partial guarantees for 2020/21 will be October 17 at 3:00pm eastern time, rather than on June 28, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Additionally, as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link) reported over the weekend, traded player exceptions that were set to expire in early July will have their expiry dates moved to corresponding dates in October. For example, since the free agency moratorium will now expire on October 23 instead of July 6, the Warriors‘ $17.2MM TPE that would have expired on July 7 will instead do so on October 24.
[RELATED: Outstanding NBA Trade Exceptions]
There are other deadlines that figure to be closely tied to the new league year as well. For instance, the deadline to tender a qualifying offer to a potential restricted free agent will likely be on October 17 rather than June 29.
Some date adjustments may be trickier to determine and will require further clarification. For instance, some players had been scheduled to receive full or partial guarantees if they remained under contract through August 1. That date may simply be shifted to November 19, one month after the ’20/21 league year begins. But the NBA has proposed opening training camps for next season on November 10, complicating that timeline.
Nikola Jokic Tests Positive For Coronavirus; U.S. Return Delayed
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic tested positive for the coronavirus last week in Serbia, delaying his return to the United States, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN (via Twitter).
According to the ESPN duo, Jokic has been asymptomatic since testing positive. The All-Star big man is expected to be cleared to travel to Denver within the next week, per Woj and Windhorst.
We learned last week that Jokic may have been exposed to COVID-19, having been in close proximity to KK Partizan center Nikola Jankovic, who tested positive shortly thereafter. Tennis star Novak Djokovic, who was at the same event, announced earlier today that he has tested positive for the coronavirus as well.
While Jokic’s return to Denver will be delayed, it doesn’t sound as if he’s suffering from any symptoms, and it seems likely he’ll be recovered before the Nuggets travel to Orlando in July. Assuming that’s the case, the 25-year-old will be able to participate in training camp with the team and should be good to go for the eight seeding games and the postseason.
Nuggets Likely To Fill Open Roster Spot
There’s a good chance the Nuggets will use the open spot on their 15-man roster to add a player this week, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Although Denver has no pressing needs, the team will likely fill that opening for insurance purposes, Singer notes.
[RELATED: What To Expect During This Week’s Transaction Window]
The Nuggets, who haven’t had a ton of breathing room below the luxury tax line for much of the season, have carried 14 players (not including their two-way players) for most of 2019/20, maintaining roster flexibility.
Given the extra financial flexibility the club created at the trade deadline and the modest cost of a free agent signing at this point in the season, Denver wouldn’t be in any danger of going into the tax by filling that open roster spot with a minimum-salary player.
Singer doesn’t identify any specific players the Nuggets might be targeting, but they’ll be able to choose from anyone who is currently a free agent and didn’t play in an international league this season.
Denver would also have the option of converting PJ Dozier‘s two-way contract into a standard deal, having him become the team’s 15th man. In that scenario, the Nuggets would be able to sign a new player to a two-way contract, starting Saturday. That player would need to have between zero and three years of NBA service — that same restriction wouldn’t apply to a player signing a standard contract.
International Notes: Shved, Monroe, A. Antetokounmpo, More
Despite some speculation that he might return to the NBA, veteran guard Alexey Shved has agreed to a new three-year contract extension with Khimki, his team in Russia, sources tell Sportando.
Shved, who appeared in 182 NBA games for four teams from 2012-15, has excelled over the last few years for Khimki in EuroCup and EuroLeague play. While he’d certainly draw interest if he looked to make an NBA comeback, it appears that he has decided the upside of such a move is outweighed by playing a starring role on one of Europe’s best teams in his home country.
Here are a few more international basketball updates:
- Veteran big man Greg Monroe spent the 2019/20 season with Bayern Munich in Germany, but isn’t expected to remain with the club for a second season, per the team’s sporting director Daniele Baiesi. “I don’t think (he) is going to come back,” Baiesi said of Monroe (Twitter link via Robert Heusel of BIG Basketball). “He deserves a much bigger stage. I think he’s a luxury that we cannot afford.”
- Alex Antetokounmpo, the youngest brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo, has signed a three-year contract with Spanish team UCAM Murcia, according to Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net. Giannis’ brother recently decided to prepare for the NBA by playing professionally in Europe rather than joining an NCAA program in the United States. According to Varlas, Alex’s new deal includes an NBA out clause after each year.
- Former NBA guard Aaron Harrison has agreed to a deal with Greek team Olympiacos after spending last season with Galatasaray in Turkey, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Harrison spent time with Charlotte and Dallas from 2015-18.
- Veteran guard Darrun Hilliard, who appeared in 91 NBA game from 2015-18 for Detroit and San Antonio, is expected to remain with Russian club CSKA Moscow for one more season, tweets Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas.
Teams Bracing For COVID-19 Cases; Two Suns Test Positive
With the second phase of the NBA’s return-to-play plan getting underway today, mandatory coronavirus testing will begin for players on teams who will be part of the Orlando restart this summer, and those clubs are bracing for a “significant” number of positive tests, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Full training camps won’t officially begin until July 11, after teams have reported to Orlando. Players who take part in group workouts at that time will have tested negative for COVID-19 at least twice upon arriving at Walt Disney World. During the two weeks before teams travel to Orlando, those clubs will look to identify and quarantine any players who have contracted the virus to ensure that they don’t bring it with them into the bubble.
According to Wojnarowski, one Western Conference playoff team had four positive coronavirus tests within the past few weeks. Meanwhile, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic reports that two Suns players have tested positive, prompting the team to temporarily shut down voluntary workouts at its Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum practice facility.
While an increasing number of positive tests in the coming days will likely prompt questions about the NBA’s restart plan, the league remains hopeful that by the time teams are ready to travel to Orlando around July 7, any affected players will either be fully recovered or will remain quarantined as they recover.
Kris Dunn Meets Starter Criteria, Increases Value Of QO
Bulls guard Kris Dunn has been deemed to have met the starter criteria as a result of the shortened season, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). As a result, Dunn will receive a qualifying offer of $7,091,457 instead of $4,642,800 this offseason if Chicago wants to make him a restricted free agent.
We broke down Dunn’s situation in greater depth earlier this month, but the abridged version is this: A player eligible for restricted free agency receives a more lucrative qualifying offer if he starts 41 games or plays 2,000 minutes in the season before he reaches free agency, or if he averages 41 starts or 2,000 minutes in the two seasons before his free agency.
Dunn, who started 32 games this season and 76 in total over the last two years, fell slightly short of the 41-game-per-season requirement, but the criteria became prorated due to the Bulls only playing 65 of their 82 games this season. As a result, the former No. 5 overall pick was considered to have met the starter criteria, increasing the value of his qualifying offer.
As we’ve previously pointed out, the $2.5MM difference could have a real impact on Dunn’s free agency. It’s possible the Bulls will be less inclined to tender a qualifying offer now that it’s worth $7.1MM instead of $4.6MM. If they do move ahead with the QO, it’s possible Dunn will be more inclined to accept it.
If Chicago doesn’t tender a qualifying offer to Dunn, he’d become an unrestricted free agent.
As Marks and ESPN have previously reported, the NBA and NBPA also agreed to prorate the criteria for bonuses and incentives available to players in 2019/20, based on the shortened season. As a result, the following players have now achieved bonuses, according to Marks (Twitter link):
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz): $250K for a rate of one rebound per 2.52 minutes in 62 games played.
- Original criteria: A rate of one rebound per <3.2 minutes in 67 games.
- Solomon Hill (Heat): $532K for 992 minutes played.
- Original criteria: 1,000 minutes.
- Jrue Holiday (Pelicans): $255K for 1,922 minutes played; $255K for 55 games played; $255K for 4.9 RPG in 55 games.
- Original criteria: 2,075 minutes played; 66 games played; 3.15 RPG in 67 games.
- Tyus Jones (Grizzlies): $858K for 32 wins.
- Original criteria: 33 wins.
- Kyle Lowry (Raptors): $200K for All-Star berth and 52 games played.
- Original criteria: All-Star berth and 65 games played.
- Patty Mills (Spurs): $250K for 149 three-pointers made.
- Original criteria: 185 3PM.
- T.J. Warren (Pacers): $250K for 184 three-pointers made and .375 3PT%.
- Original criteria: 185 3PM; .370 3PT%.
DeMarcus Cousins Expected To Aim For 2020/21 Return
11:55am: Cousins hasn’t entirely ruled out the possibility of signing with a team for the restart, agent Jeff Schwartz tells Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. It would have to be in a situation where he feels comfortable playing instead of continuing his rehab, Ganguli adds.
10:36am: Free agent center DeMarcus Cousins has been the subject of much speculation leading up to the NBA’s restart in Orlando, but Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) hears that Cousins is expected to sit out the summer and continue rehabbing his knee in preparation for a full return in 2020/21.
Cousins, who tore his ACL last August, remained on the Lakers‘ roster for much of the 2019/20 season and was only waived in February when the club needed to open a spot to sign Markieff Morris. A subsequent report indicated that Cousins and L.A. would have interest in a new deal in the offseason.
Once play was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was speculation that the door might be open for Cousins to join the Lakers – or another team – to finish the season. However, it sounds like that won’t be the case, despite multiple teams expressing interest in the four-time All-Star, per Charania.
It makes sense for Cousins – who will turn 30 in August – to play it safe with his recovery. The big man previously suffered a torn Achilles tendon in 2018 and a torn quad in the spring of 2019, making the ACL tear his third major leg injury in a two-year period. Plus, even if he were feeling healthy enough to play this summer, it’s not clear how much he’d be able to contribute, joining and adjusting to a new team with the playoffs about to begin.
The Lakers and Wizards figure to be among the teams that express interest in Cousins during the offseason this fall.
Cavs’ Andre Drummond Confirms Plan To Opt In
Cavaliers center Andre Drummond, one of 29 veterans who has a player option for 2020/21, confirmed during a Tuesday appearance on ESPN’s Le Batard & Friends — STUpodity podcast that he expects to exercise that option.
“Yeah, it’s going to be hard to give up, so you can count on me being in Cleveland still,” Drummond said when asked about his option decision (link via ESPN). “I definitely will be in Cleveland.”
Drummond’s comments today don’t come as a real surprise. His option is worth $28,751,774, a salary that would have been tough to turn down even before the coronavirus pandemic jeopardized the league’s 2020/21 cap projection. A report shortly after Cleveland acquired Drummond in February indicated that he was expected to opt in.
Still, knowing that the 26-year-old plans to pick up that option should help the Cavaliers plan the rest of their offseason. With that $28.75MM on their books, the Cavs are unlikely to have any cap room, and may be less inclined to aggressively pursue a new deal with Tristan Thompson, their other veteran center.
After spending the seven-and-a-half years of his NBA career in Detroit, Drummond appeared in just eight games for Cleveland following the February trade between the Pistons and Cavs. For the season, he averaged 17.7 PPG, 1.9 SPG, 1.6 BPG, and a league-leading 15.2 RPG in 57 games (33.0 MPG) with the two clubs.
What To Expect During This Week’s Transaction Window
It has been nearly three-and-a-half months since an NBA team made a transaction. On March 10, the Warriors signed guard Mychal Mulder to a multiyear contract. Two days later, a report indicated that the Suns had waived two-way player Jared Harper.
However, by then, the 2019/20 season had already been halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the NBA and NBPA agreeing shortly thereafter to a moratorium that halted roster activity. As a result, signings, waivers, and other transactions have been on hold for months, and Harper still hasn’t technically cleared waivers.
As a weekend report indicated, Harper will hit waivers on Tuesday, once the NBA officially opens a week-long transaction window for all 30 teams, including the eight that aren’t participating in the resumed season. That window will open today at noon eastern time and will close next Tuesday (June 30) at 11:59pm ET.
However, not every form of transaction will be permitted once that moratorium lifts in less than 24 hours. With the help of Bobby Marks’ primer at ESPN.com and a handful of other reports, here’s a breakdown of what we can expect during the league’s week-long transaction window:
Teams will be permitted to convert players on two-way contracts to standard deals.
This may not be as pressing a priority for some teams as it typically would be, since the NBA will allow players on two-way contracts to play in the postseason for this year only. That means a player like Chris Chiozza (Nets) doesn’t necessarily need to sign a standard contract to participate in the playoffs.
Still, there’s incentive for teams to do so if there’s a spot available on their 15-man rosters, as is the case with the Thunder and Luguentz Dort. Oklahoma City could potentially get Dort locked up to a more team-friendly contract, and moving him to the 15-man roster would open up a two-way contract slot.
The top 22 teams will be able to sign players to two-way contracts (as of June 27).
Normally, January 15 represents the last day that teams can sign a player to a two-way contract. After that date, no two-way signings are permitted until the new league year begins. This year, however, the teams participating in the Orlando restart will be able to sign players to two-way contracts, starting Saturday, assuming they have a spot available or can open one up.
As our two-way contract tracker shows, the Suns and Sixers currently have open two-way slots. A team like the Thunder could create one if they convert a player to their standard roster.
On the other hand, a bottom-eight team with a two-way opening, such as the Hawks or Warriors, won’t be permitted to fill it during this week’s transaction window, since the rule change is designed to give teams in Orlando some added depth.
The usual rules will apply to eligibility for two-way players, so a team won’t be able to sign a 10-year veteran to a two-way deal.
Teams will be able to sign free agents or make waiver claims using open roster spots.
Teams that don’t have full 15-man rosters will be given the opportunity to sign players to fill those open spots, whether or not they’re participating in the resumed season. Any player who played in the NBA or G League and wasn’t on a professional non-NBA roster after September 30, 2019 is eligible to sign, per Marks.
Players such as J.R. Smith and Jamal Crawford, who weren’t in the NBA this season, are also eligible to be signed, since they didn’t play in an international league. A player like Greg Monroe, who played for Bayern Munich in Germany during the 2019/20 season, wouldn’t be eligible to sign with an NBA team now.
The Nuggets, Suns, Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Thunder are among the top 22 teams with open roster spots. The Clippers, Grizzlies, and Kings also have openings, though they’re expected to be filled by Joakim Noah, Anthony Tolliver, and Corey Brewer, respectively.
Rest-of-season or multiyear contracts are permitted. Obviously, for bottom-eight teams, a rest-of-season contract wouldn’t provide any value, so if those clubs make roster additions, they’ll be multiyear deals. The Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Warriors, and Timberwolves currently have open roster spots.
Rest-of-season, minimum-salary contracts will be worth 20/177th of their full-season values. Marks has the specific breakdown right here. Interestingly, Marks also notes that any free agent who signs a rest-of-season contract will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, even if he doesn’t have four years of NBA experience.
Teams will be able to waive players.
Of course, even if a team doesn’t currently have a roster spot available, that club could open one up by waiving one of its current players. For example, the Hawks may decide that it makes sense to release retiring forward Vince Carter in order to create space to sign a promising G League prospect to a long-term deal.
Playoff teams with full 15-man rosters may also consider making a cut or two to bring in someone new. The Rockets and Mavericks are reportedly among the teams mulling a change.
A player waived after March 1 is ineligible to participate in the postseason with a new team, so that rule applies to anyone waived during the transaction window too. For instance, the Mavs couldn’t pick up Carter for a playoff run if Atlanta cuts him.
As Marks notes (via Twitter), Sunday, June 28 at 5:00pm ET will be the deadline this week to release a player, in order to ensure that the player clears waivers before the transaction window closes on Tuesday night.
Teams will be able to sign “substitute players” — under certain circumstances.
Even without an open roster spot, a team will be permitted to sign a “substitute player” to replace a player who meets one of the following criteria:
- Tests positive for COVID-19.
- Is deemed “protected” or “excused” from participating for health reasons related to COVID-19.
- Voluntarily opts out of participating by June 24, forfeiting at least eight games’ worth of salary.
- Note: A player who opts out can’t lose more than 14 games’ worth of salary, per Marks.
In other words, players like Trevor Ariza and Davis Bertans, who have voluntarily opted out, can be replaced with substitute players by the Trail Blazers and Wizards, respectively, without those teams needing to open up roster spots.
However, an injured player can’t be replace by a substitute player, meaning the Nets can’t sign free agents to replace Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving without an opening on their 15-man roster. They’ll likely designate their two-way players – Chiozza and Jeremiah Martin – as Durant’s and Irving’s replacements instead.
Substitute players are subject to slightly different rules than typical free agent signees. They can’t be signed to multiyear deals, and their salaries won’t count against a team’s cap or tax. They also can be signed as of July 1, rather than during this week’s transaction window.
Substitutes for players meeting any of the criteria listed above can be signed until August 14, the last day of the seeding games. After that, they can be signed only if a player tests positive for COVID-19. A substitute player signed after the seeding games are over must have between zero and three years of service, ruling out certain veterans. The substitute player will also have to quarantine for a minimum of seven days upon arriving in Orlando.
If a player is replaced by a substitute player, he becomes ineligible to return this summer. For instance, if the Wizards sign a player to replace Bertans, then Bertans wouldn’t be able to have a change of heart and rejoin the Wizards in the event that they claim the No. 8 seed in the East.
Teams won’t be able to make trades.
The one type of transaction that we won’t see at all this week is a trade. Because the 2019/20 trade deadline passed in February and the season isn’t over yet, those deals remain off the table for the time being, so any roster changes will have to come in the form of signings, waiver claims, or cuts.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA, NBPA Agree To Enhanced Insurance Plan For Injuries
The NBA and the NBPA have agreed to put in place an enhanced insurance plan for players in Orlando, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
According to Wojnarowski, the plan would cover career-ending injuries suffered this summer, whether they’re conventional basketball injuries or somehow related to COVID-19. The potential group policy would cover players for “several million dollars,” Woj adds.
There’s a belief among players that they’ll be at greater risk of injury this summer due to a lengthy hiatus and their limited access to basketball facilities during that layoff.
Players will get a training camp period and will have the opportunity to play a series of intersquad scrimmages in Orlando before the seeding game begin. However, the ramping-up period will look different than a typical fall training camp, as many teams will immediately have to fight for their playoff lives once games begin on July 30.
When Wojnarowski reported earlier this month that several players were pushing for an enhanced insurance plan, he noted that it would be difficult to prove that any injury suffered in Orlando is directly responsible for a reduction in a player’s future earnings unless it directly threatens the player’s career. Based on today’s report, it sounds as if the new agreement will only cover those career-threatening ailments rather than shorter-term injuries.
Bam Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox, Kyle Kuzma, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum were among the players said to be lobbying for enhanced insurance protection. All five are eligible for contract extensions this offseason.