Clippers, Spurs Among Teams Facing Potential Roster Crunch
NBA teams are permitted to carry up to 20 players during the offseason, so no clubs have been forced to cut anyone to make room for new additions so far this summer. However, once the regular season begins in October, teams must trim their rosters to 15 players (not counting two-way contracts), and there are already a handful of clubs that may face some difficult decision to get down to that number.
Of course, there’s plenty of time for these teams to figure out how their regular season rosters will look and make the necessary trades or cuts. It’s only mid-August after all.
Still, we wanted to check in on these teams to preview some of the decisions they may be facing in the coming weeks and months.
Let’s dive in…
Los Angeles Clippers:
After officially completing their new deal with Kawhi Leonard on Thursday, the Clippers now have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, and Nicolas Batum will become the 16th once he officially finalizes his new contract with the team.
Yogi Ferrell remains under contract on a non-guaranteed salary, but it’s hard to see how he’ll fit on the regular season roster, since the club would have to remove two players on guaranteed salaries in order to keep him.
Perhaps the Clippers, who are facing a projected $125MM tax bill in 2021/22, will make a surprise trade involving a veteran on an expiring contract in order to cut costs, but it’s hard at this point to imagine the team salary-dumping a player like Patrick Beverley, Serge Ibaka, or Rajon Rondo.
This year’s second-round picks, Jason Preston and Brandon Boston, signed deals with two guaranteed seasons and should be safe, but last year’s second-rounder – Daniel Oturu – is on an expiring $1.52MM deal and could be at risk of losing his roster spot following a quiet rookie season.
San Antonio Spurs:
The Spurs are currently at 14 players on guaranteed contracts and one (Drew Eubanks) with a small partial guarantee of $500K. Their offseason moves aren’t all done though — Bryn Forbes and Jock Landale have yet to sign their contracts, and second-rounder Joe Wieskamp is unsigned too.
We don’t know the exact salary details for Forbes and Landale. However, Forbes seems like a safe bet for a full guarantee. It’s possible Landale’s deal won’t be guaranteed, which would make him and Eubanks potential odd men out. The Spurs also have an open two-way slot, which perhaps they’d like to use on Wieskamp.
If San Antonio wants to carry at least one of Eubanks, Landale, and Wieskamp on its 15-man regular season roster, Al-Farouq Aminu would be the most logical odd man out. Injuries have limited him to just 41 games over the last two seasons, he’s on an expiring contract, and he was included in the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes.
Detroit Pistons:
It was a little surprising when the Pistons brought back Rodney McGruder on a guaranteed minimum-salary deal just a few days after waiving him. McGruder is Detroit’s 15th guaranteed contract, and the team has yet to sign restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo or second-round picks Luka Garza and Balsa Koprivica.
The Pistons are reportedly using one of their two-way contract slots on undrafted rookie Chris Smith, but that leaves one for Koprivica or Garza. Jahlil Okafor, who is on expiring $2.13MM contract, is probably the most expendable of the 15 players on guaranteed deals.
But even if, say, Koprivica fills a two-way slot and Diallo replaces Okafor on the 15-man roster, one more move would be necessary to accommodate Garza. Perhaps Detroit can stash Koprivica in the G League or an international league and use that second two-way spot on Garza.
New York Knicks:
The Knicks are carrying just 10 players on fully guaranteed contracts for the time being, but they still need to officially complete deals for Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Taj Gibson. That’ll bring the total to 14.
The team is also carrying Luca Vildoza on a non-guaranteed deal, has reached an agreement to sign Dwayne Bacon, and has No. 34 overall pick Rokas Jokubaitis talking about wanting to make this year’s roster.
We don’t know the full details on Bacon’s contract yet, but if it’s not fully guaranteed, he could end up battling Vildoza for the final spot on the 15-man squad, with Jokubaitis returning to Europe for at least one more year.
A few other situations worth noting:
- The Celtics will have 15 fully guaranteed contracts once Dennis Schröder and Enes Kanter officially sign, making Jabari Parker (non-guaranteed) the odd man out unless a player like Kris Dunn or Bruno Fernando is traded.
- The Nets have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with DeAndre’ Bembry on a partial guarantee and Alize Johnson on a non-guaranteed deal. Second-round picks Kessler Edwards, Marcus Zegarowski, and RaiQuan Gray are all unsigned, as is two-way RFA Reggie Perry. Two of those players will likely end up on two-way deals and one of the second-rounders probably replaces Johnson on the 15-man roster. However, there’s not really a path to Edwards, Zegarowski, and Gray all claiming standard contracts or two-way deals unless one of Bembry or Perry is cut loose.
- The Warriors have 13 players on fully guaranteed deals, meaning not all three of Damion Lee, Mychal Mulder, and Gary Payton II (all non-guaranteed) will make the team. Mulder and Payton may end up fighting for the 15th spot.
- If the Pelicans sign RFA Josh Hart and second-round pick Herb Jones to guaranteed contracts, they’ll have 15 of them, making Wenyen Gabriel (non-guaranteed) the likely odd man out.
- The Sixers have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with Paul Reed and Anthony Tolliver on non-guaranteed deals and second-round picks Charles Bassey and Filip Petrusev unsigned. Bassey figures to get a 15-man spot, since both of the team’s two-way slots are full, and I’d be surprised if Reed goes anywhere. That might mean Tolliver is waived, with Petrusev remaining overseas.
- The Kings will have 14 players on guaranteed contracts once Alex Len officially signs, leaving Chimezie Metu (partially guaranteed) and Justin James (non-guaranteed) battling for the 15th spot.
Atlantic Notes: Griffin, Sixers, Knicks, Schröder
Despite looking rejuvenated in Brooklyn down the stretch of the 2020/21 season, veteran forward Blake Griffin accepted another minimum-salary contract to return to the Nets, and said on Thursday that the decision was a “no-brainer,” as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays.
“We as a team felt like we obviously didn’t accomplish what we wanted,” Griffin said. “You can say injuries, but every team had injuries. So we feel like there’s definitely unfinished business. There’s something bigger that we want to achieve, and I still want to be a part of that.”
Not all of the Nets’ key free agents returned – Jeff Green left for Denver – but Griffin wasn’t the only player to re-sign a team-friendly deal and make reference to unfinished business after falling short of a championship in 2021. Bruce Brown, who accepted his one-year, $4.7MM qualifying offer from Brooklyn, told GM Sean Marks that he felt “the job wasn’t done.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Rich Hofmann of The Athletic takes a look at the Sixers‘ offseason, observing that the team has mostly taken a “run it back” approach so far, with Andre Drummond and Georges Niang filling the Dwight Howard and Mike Scott roles. Of course, the possibility of a Ben Simmons trade still looms large, but it’s unclear what such a deal might look like if the 76ers don’t get a chance to make a run at Damian Lillard.
- As Ian Begley of SNY.tv writes, as a result of all the multiyear contract commitments the Knicks made this offseason, the summer of 2022 projects to be the first offseason in a few years that the team won’t have maximum-salary cap space.
- Knicks forward Obi Toppin, a native New Yorker like Kemba Walker, grew up idolizing the point guard and can’t wait to play alongside him in 2021/22, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. “Having Kemba come to the team is amazing,” Toppin said. “Great player. I’ve watched him as long as he’s been playing since he left UConn. Having an opportunity to play with him is going to be amazing.”
- Dennis Schröder may not be a perfect on-court fit for the Celtics, but he’ll bring an element of speed and an ability to get to the rim that the team’s other point guards don’t have, and it’s hard to argue with the value of a one-year, $5.9MM deal, says Jay King of The Athletic.
Marks May Not Be Done Tweaking Roster
- While Nets general manager Sean Marks says he’s mostly done tweaking the team’s roster this offseason, he reserved the right to make more moves, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “We’ve got to continue to tinker with the roster, and just see what happens,” he said. “We’ve seen in the past where other teams make cuts, and so forth, and we’re able to adjust because of that. So I don’t want to say that the roster’s complete: Maybe it’s 90 percent complete, 99 percent complete.”
Kyle Korver Joining Nets As Player Development Coach
Kyle Korver, a 17-year NBA veteran, has lined up a deal to join the Nets as a player development coach on Steve Nash‘s staff, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Korver, 40, has yet to announce his retirement, but this move is a pretty clear signal that his playing days are probably over. After spending the 2019/20 season with the Bucks, Korver didn’t play in the NBA in 2020/21, and suggested in February about whether or not he would play in the league again.
The 51st overall pick in the 2003 draft, Korver appeared in a total of 1,232 regular season games – and another 145 postseason contests – for the Sixers, Jazz, Bulls, Hawks, Cavaliers, and Bucks. He averaged 9.7 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 25.3 minutes per game and was one of the best long-distance shooters of his era, knocking down 42.9% of his three-pointers over the course of his career.
Korver currently ranks fourth on the NBA’s all-time list with 2,450 made three-pointers, though Nets star James Harden (2,445) figures to pass his new coach for that spot early in 2021/22.
Nash’s coaching staff took a hit this offseason when Ime Udoka was hired as Boston’s head coach and Mike D’Antoni stepped down from his assistant role. However, the team has made some noteworthy hires, adding David Vanterpool as an assistant and agreeing to bring aboard Steve Clifford as a coaching consultant.
And-Ones: Draft Picks, Hammon, Luxury Tax, Gortman, Spurs
Executives around the NBA don’t love the idea of having teams forfeit second-round picks as a result of tampering investigations, like the Bucks did a year ago, writes ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Insider link). As Givony explains, the thinking is that late second-rounders don’t have a ton of value to begin with, so taking away those picks hurts would-be draftees as much as it hurts teams.
“Why are we punishing players by reducing the number of picks that are made in the NBA draft?” one executive said to Givony. “Players work their entire careers to get to the point that they can hear their names called on draft night. It’s completely unfair to them to have fewer bestowed that honor because of backroom shenanigans that are entirely out of their control.”
Givony suggests some execs would like to see the NBA find a way to avoid having fewer than 60 picks in future drafts by redistributing any forfeited picks. For instance, a team that wins a midseason tournament could earn an extra second-round pick, or a forfeited pick could be awarded to the team that employs the winner of the league’s new Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award.
“How cool would it have been if (inaugural winner) Carmelo Anthony went up to the podium at the 60th pick and announced that the Portland Trail Blazers have drafted someone?” one Eastern Conference executive said to Givony. “That would have been a great moment at Barclays Center, shedding light on the work he’s done, and tying it to the start of a young player’s NBA career, who could maybe follow in his footsteps.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Speaking to Doug Feinberg of The Associated Press, Spurs assistant Becky Hammon said she can’t wait for a time when it’s considered normal for NBA teams to interview and hire women for head coaching jobs. Hammon, one of the few women to receive head coaching consideration, added that she wants to be hired for the right reasons. “Please don’t hire me to check a box. That’s the worst thing you can do for me,” she said. “Hire me because of my skill sets and coaching, who am I as a person, hire me for those.”
- Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link) provides a breakdown of the projected tax penalties for the eight teams currently above the tax line. While some clubs may shed salary over the course of the season to reduce those bills, the current numbers are staggering, especially for the Warriors ($184MM), Nets ($131MM), and Clippers ($125MM).
- Five-star prospect Jazian Gortman, a guard based in South Carolina whom ESPN ranks fifth in the 2022 recruiting class, has signed with Overtime Elite, the league announced on Wednesday in a press release.
- RealGM has the details on the draft picks involved in a pair of Spurs trades – with the Pacers (Doug McDermott) and Bulls (DeMar DeRozan) – this week. Most notably, the first-round pick Chicago is sending San Antonio will be top-10 protected in 2025 and top-eight protected in two subsequent years. That pick would be pushed back by a year if the Bulls’ 2023 first-rounder falls within in its top-four protection and isn’t conveyed until 2024.
Nets Hiring Steve Clifford As Coaching Consultant
The Nets are hiring veteran NBA coach Steve Clifford as a coaching consultant, reports Malika Andrews of ESPN.
Clifford, who previously spent five seasons as Charlotte’s head coach, coached the Magic for the last three seasons, leading the team to a 96-131 (.423) record and a pair of playoff appearances. With Orlando pivoting toward a rebuild this year, Clifford and the team agreed to part ways in June.
Andrews, who refers to Clifford as the “most sought-after assistant in the marketplace,” points out that he has some history with Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash. Clifford was an assistant for the Lakers in 2012/13 when Nash played for the team.
Although Clifford will only be with the Nets periodically during the 2021/22 season, he’ll lend some much-needed experience to a staff that lost top assistants Ime Udoka and Mike D’Antoni this offseason.
Nets Confident About Extending Harden, Irving
The Nets completed one major piece of offseason business when they signed Kevin Durant to a four-year, maximum-salary contract extension worth nearly $198MM. Now, the team is shifting its focus to James Harden and Kyrie Irving, both of whom are extension-eligible too.
Speaking today to reporters, general manager Sean Marks said the Nets have engaged with both star guards about new deals and are “confident” that they’ll get something done before training camp begins in late September (Twitter link via Malika Andrews of ESPN).
It’s unclear if Brooklyn will simply put long-term, maximum-salary offers on the table for Harden and Irving, as the team did for Durant, or if more extensive negotiations will be required.
The largest possible extensions for the two stars would work out to $161MM over three years for Harden (starting in 2023/24) and a projected $186.6MM over four years for Irving (starting in 2022/23), according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Marks admitted today that he thought restricted free agent Bruce Brown might get a big offer sheet from another team that would make life difficult for the Nets (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post). However, Brown – who accepted his one-year, $4.7MM qualifying offer – told him that “the job wasn’t done” in Brooklyn.
- While he acknowledged that the roster could look a little different in a month or two, Marks said the plan is “definitely” for DeAndre Jordan to be part of the team moving forward (Twitter link via Lewis).
- The Nets made defense a priority in free agency, according to Marks (Twitter link via Lewis). Lewis wrote about that subject in more depth for The New York Post, noting that in addition to re-signing Brown, the team brought in Jevon Carter, DeAndre’ Bembry, and James Johnson.
- Marks pointed to rebounding as an issue the Nets still need to address, whether via a roster addition or internally (Twitter link via Lewis).
Contract Details: Clippers, THT, Ball, Nwaba, Bembry, Raptors
After reporting over the weekend that the Clippers used about $3.9MM of their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Justise Winslow, ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Instagram video) confirmed today that the team used the leftover portion of that MLE to sign second-round picks Jason Preston and Brandon Boston Jr. to three-year deals, with Preston getting a little more than the rookie minimum.
Keith Smith of Spotrac shares those salary figures down to the dollar, tweeting that Winslow’s first-year salary is $3,902,439 while Preston’s is $1,062,303. Combined with Boston’s rookie minimum of $925,258, those three salaries add up to exactly $5.89MM, the amount of the taxpayer mid-level exception.
Here are a few more details on new contracts from around the NBA:
- While Talen Horton-Tucker‘s three-year deal with the Lakers was initially said to be worth $32MM, the year-by-year breakdown provided by Smith works out to a total of $30.78MM (Twitter link).
- Lonzo Ball‘s four-year deal with the Bulls also came in slightly lower than expected, according to Smith, who says it has a base value of $80MM, with $1MM in annual unlikely incentives (Twitter link).
- David Nwaba‘s three-year, $15MM contract with the Rockets has two fully guaranteed seasons followed by a third-year team option, according to Marks (Instagram video).
- DeAndre’ Bembry‘s minimum-salary deal with the Nets has a partial guarantee of $750K for now, tweets Smith. That number will increase to $1.25MM on December 15 before becoming fully guaranteed in January.
- Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter links) shares some Raptors contract details, reporting that Gary Trent Jr.‘s deal has a base value of $51.84MM, with $250K in annual unlikely incentives. Murphy adds that Ishmail Wainright got a $250K guarantee in 2021/22 – plus a $125K guarantee in ’22/23 – on his minimum-salary contract, while Yuta Watanabe‘s minimum-salary deal is now partially guaranteed for $375K. Watanabe would get his full guarantee if he makes the regular season roster.
Atlantic Notes: McBride, Brown, Siakam, Achiuwa
The contract that rookie point guard Miles McBride signed with the Knicks covers three years, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Instagram video link). Marks reports that the first two seasons in the deal are guaranteed, while the third is a team option. The team used cap room to complete the signing.
McBride, 20, was selected with the No. 36 pick out of West Virginia. The 6’2″ guard was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team for the 2020/21 season, his sophomore year. During his final collegiate season, McBridge averaged 15.9 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 3.9 RPG, on a .431/.414/.813 shooting line.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Do-everything Nets guard Bruce Brown drew outside interest as a free agent but said that he always knew he wanted to remain in Brooklyn, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post (Twitter link). Brown, 24, opted to accept a one-year, $4.7MM qualifying offer from the Nets, and will be an unrestricted free agent next season. “I really didn’t pay it any mind, honestly,” Brown said of the decision to remain in Brooklyn, per Tom Dowd of BrooklynNets.com. “I thought everything would take care of itself. I really was just working out the whole time, and then when free agency started, I actually was on the plane back to New York. So I didn’t really talk to anybody until I landed. I’m just happy to be back. It’s a great fit. I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”
- Appearing on Sportsnet 590 The Fan in Toronto, Raptors general manager Bobby Webster downplayed ongoing rumblings about a potential impending Pascal Siakam trade. “Teams call on our players and we call on other teams’ players,” Webster said, per Steven Loung of Sportsnet (Twitter link).
- New Raptors big man Precious Achiuwa, acquired as part of the sign-and-trade that sent point guard Kyle Lowry to the Heat, is excited to contribute however he can to a winning culture with Toronto, writes Neil Davidson of The Toronto Star. “Rebounding,” Achiuwa said, explaining what he brings to the team. “Guarding multiple positions. Creating offense for my teammates with screens, pick-and-rolls. Passing the ball. Just whatever it takes to win basketball games. Getting loose balls… For me, it’s all about winning.” During his rookie season in Miami, Achiuwa averaged 5.0 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 12.1 MPG after being selected 20th overall in the 2020 draft.
Nets Sign David Duke Jr.
The Nets have officially signed undrafted rookie guard David Duke Jr. to a contract, the team announced today in a press release. Duke first announced on Twitter shortly after the draft ended that he’d be joining Brooklyn — it appears it’ll be for more than just Summer League.
Duke, who declared for the draft following his junior season at Providence, averaged 16.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 4.8 APG on .387/.389/.792 shooting in 26 games (37.1 MPG) in 2020/21.
The terms of Duke’s contract aren’t yet known, but it seems likely to be a training camp deal that includes Exhibit 10 language. Exhibit 10 contracts, which can be converted into standard or two-way deals, give players the opportunity to earn bonuses worth up to $50K if they end up joining the club’s G League affiliate after being cut.
The Nets now have 14 players under contract, with that total set to rise to 16 once Blake Griffin and Patty Mills officially sign. Three of Brooklyn’s second-round picks also remain unsigned, and the team has a two-way qualifying offer out to Reggie Perry.