League-Wide Impact Of LeBron's One-Year Deals
- Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com looks at LeBron James‘ recent history of signing one-year contracts with the Cavaliers, examining the impact the trend has had on other players and teams around the NBA.
Cavaliers Have Inquired About Cousins
The Kings are refusing to listen to trade offers for DeMarcus Cousins, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Sacramento is aware of the Celtics’ interest in the All-Star center and has received an offer from the Cavaliers. However, it looks as if the Kings are determined to keep Cousins, who has two seasons remaining on his contract. Since the season ended, Cousins has embarked on a hot yoga program and has dropped about 25 pounds.
Shaw: Cavs Playing It Smart With J.R. Smith
- The Cavaliers are playing it smart by being patient and cautious with J.R. Smith in free agency, opines Bud Shaw of Cleveland.com.
Update On NBA Traded Player Exceptions
Traded player exceptions, which we’ve explained extensively in a Hoops Rumors glossary entry, are a tool that over-the-cap teams can use to complete trades. For mid-season deals, when most teams are at or over the salary cap, these exceptions are typically used and created frequently.
This summer, however, with the salary cap increasing by more than $24MM and most teams choosing to use cap room rather than staying over the cap, trade exceptions have become scarcer — and less useful. In order for teams to actually use their available cap room to take on salaries or to sign free agents, those exceptions must be renounced.
Heading into the 2016/17 league year, teams around the NBA held a total of 29 trade exceptions. After the new league year officially got underway and the moratorium ended, the majority of those TPEs were lost. In total, 22 of the 29 previously-existing traded player exceptions were renounced or expired.
Earlier this month, only the Clippers, Cavaliers, and Thunder still held any TPEs, with Cleveland hanging onto five of them, and L.A. and OKC holding one apiece. Over the last week or so, a few new trade exceptions have been created, but with so many teams still under the cap, the full list is much shorter than it has been in past years.
Here’s a breakdown of the newly-created TPEs:
Charlotte Hornets
Amount: $1,666,470
Expires: 7/12/17
How it was created: When the Grizzlies signed Troy Daniels away from the Hornets, they did so in a sign-and-trade deal, allowing Charlotte to create a TPE for half of Daniels’ $3,332,940 salary.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Amount: $1,333,420
Expires: 7/15/17
How it was created: The Cavaliers created this TPE worth Sasha Kaun‘s 2016/17 salary when they sent him to Philadelphia without receiving any NBA salary in return.
(Note: The Cavaliers also created a $4,803,750 trade exception by signing-and-trading Matthew Dellavedova to the Bucks, but immediately used that exception to acquire Mike Dunleavy.)
Los Angeles Clippers
Amount: $1,209,600
Expires: 7/15/17
How it was created: When the Clippers acquired Devyn Marble from the Magic for C.J. Wilcox, the team actually used its old $947,276 TPE (acquired in January’s Josh Smith trade) to absorb Marble’s salary, then created a new exception worth Wilcox’s salary.
The traded player exceptions listed above have been added to our full breakdown of the TPEs available around the league. That list no longer includes the $2,038,206 exception the Thunder created last summer when they sent Perry Jones III to the Celtics — that TPE expired on July 14.
Our full list of TPEs also no longer features the following exceptions, all of which were renounced earlier this month when these teams went under the cap (expiry date listed in parentheses):
- Atlanta Hawks: $947,276 (2/18/17)
- Brooklyn Nets: $2,170,465 (7/13/16)
- Chicago Bulls: $2,854,940 (2/18/17)
- Chicago Bulls: $947,276 (6/22/17)
- Denver Nuggets: $135,000 (2/18/17)
- Detroit Pistons: $6,270,000 (6/29/17)
- Golden State Warriors: $5,387,825 (7/27/16)
- Golden State Warriors: $3,197,170 (7/31/16)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $450,000 (2/18/17)
- Miami Heat: $1,706,250 (7/27/16)
- Miami Heat: $1,294,440 (7/27/16)
- Miami Heat: $2,129,535 (11/10/16)
- Miami Heat: $2,145,060 (2/16/17)
- Miami Heat: $845,059 (2/18/17)
- Miami Heat: $2,854,940 (2/18/17)
- Milwaukee Bucks: $5,200,000 (7/9/16)
- Milwaukee Bucks: $4,250,000 (7/9/16)
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $5,000,000 (7/12/16)
- New Orleans Pelicans: $102,217 (12/24/16)
- New York Knicks: $1,572,360 (6/22/17)
- Phoenix Suns: $578,651 (2/18/17)
Information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
Kay Felder Could Make Cavs' Roster
- Kay Felder had an impressive Summer League and Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders believes the No. 54 overall pick has a real shot at making the Cavs‘ roster. Felder averaged 15.3 points and 3.9 assists over seven games this summer.
Community Shootaround: Eastern Playoff Team Most Likely To Slide?
Last week, one of our Community Shootaround discussions focused on this year’s non-playoff teams in the East, asking which of those clubs had done the most to improve its roster so far this summer. The Knicks and Sixers received the most support, but several lottery teams got positive reviews from Hoops Rumors commenters for their offseason work.
Today, it’s time to look at the other eight teams in the East. The Cavaliers, Raptors, Heat, Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Pacers, and Pistons all earned spots in the postseason. How many of those teams will be back in 2017, and how many will drop out?
The Heat had the most notable departure of any of those eight playoff teams, when Dwyane Wade left Miami to sign with his hometown Bulls. But Miami wasn’t the only club to lose a notable player. The Hawks saw Al Horford depart, and the Raptors parted ways with breakout rim-protector Bismack Biyombo.
The Hornets and Pistons, meanwhile, managed to re-sign their own key free agents, including Nicolas Batum and Andre Drummond, and added some complementary pieces. But Charlotte, at least, will have to deal with some notable departures as well, including Al Jefferson, Jeremy Lin, and Courtney Lee.
Finally, the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Pacers have all received solid reviews for their summer decisions — in Cleveland’s case, it’s simply enough to bring back most of the team that beat the 73-win Warriors for the championship. For Boston and Indiana, the changes are more notable — the C’s added Horford and No. 3 pick Jaylen Brown, while the Pacers brought in Jefferson, Thaddeus Young, and Jeff Teague, among others.
What do you think? Which of the Eastern playoff teams is most likely to slide down the standings in 2016/17? How many of these eight clubs do you expect to finish in the lottery next year? Is Miami the most obvious candidate to take a step or two backwards, or is there another team more in danger of underachieving?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the Cavs, Raptors, Heat, Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Pacers, and Pistons. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Cavs Notes: LeBron, J.R. Smith, J. Jones, Lue
The Cavaliers have agreed to terms on deals for Chris Andersen and Richard Jefferson so far this month, but have yet to officially finalize those signings. In addition to needing to complete the Andersen and Jefferson moves, the Cavs have several other items on their to-do list, starting with locking up the reigning NBA Finals MVP. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com has some updates on Cleveland’s offseason, so let’s round up the highlights…
- After publicly announcing in June that he would be re-signing with the Cavaliers this summer, LeBron James has privately informed the team of the same thing. However, he is currently traveling and spending time with his family and has no timetable for negotiating or signing a deal, sources tell Windhorst. LeBron has multiple options for his contract, depending on what sort of years and dollars he wants, and he’ll go over those options with agent Rich Paul at some point, but there’s no rush, per Windhorst.
- J.R. Smith and the Cavaliers have been negotiating a new deal, but remain “apart on terms,” according to Windhorst. We heard earlier today that Smith may be seeking an annual salary worth upward of $15MM.
- The Cavaliers have had discussions with veteran free agent James Jones. According to agent Joel Bell, Jones wants to re-sign with the Cavs, but has other options.
- Like many of the Cavaliers’ free agent players, head coach Tyronn Lue has been in talks with the team for a few weeks about a new deal, but has yet to reach an agreement. Lue remains under contract for two more years, but he’s still on his assistant coach deal, having declined to work out a new agreement when he first took over for David Blatt earlier this year — so he’ll be in line for a significant raise.
Latest On J.R. Smith, Cavaliers
Since free agency began on July 1, news on J.R. Smith has been scarce. We heard this past week that Cavaliers GM David Griffin was confident about bringing back the veteran shooting guard, and based on the fact that the Cavs hold Smith’s Bird rights and he doesn’t appear to have drawn much outside interest, that seemed logical.
On Sunday, however, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders tweeted that he’s hearing Smith is seeking a “huge deal” from the Cavs — potentially something in the $15MM-per-year range. By comparison, Smith would have earned $5.375MM if he had opted into the final year of his previous contract rather than declining that player option.
Although a $15MM price tag for Smith may seem outlandish on the surface, Evan Turner recently exceeded $17MM annually on his new deal, while Allen Crabbe received $18MM+ per year. From Smith’s perspective, a deal in the range of Pau Gasol‘s two-year, $30MM pact may seem entirely reasonable, given the salary cap spike and the free agent prices around the NBA, particularly for some less accomplished two guards.
[RELATED: Shooting guard free agent contracts via our 2016 Free Agent Tracker]
Smith also has a little leverage over the Cavaliers because the team isn’t in a great position to replace him if he leaves for another club. Most of the highest-coveted free agents are off the market at this point, and Cleveland isn’t in position to make a big offer to a player like Dion Waiters, since the team doesn’t have any cap room available.
As we saw a year ago with Tristan Thompson – and even this year with LeBron James – the Cavaliers don’t typically rush this sort of negotiation. As long as teams like the Nets and Sixers still have the cap room necessary to offer significant money, Smith could use those clubs as leverage as he seeks a deal with the Cavs. Cleveland, meanwhile, will attempt to get Smith back at a more reasonable price to avoid another big luxury-tax bill. According to Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.com, there has been “zero animosity” between the two sides so far, but that doesn’t mean there will be a quick resolution.
Cavaliers Notes: Smith, McRae, Felder, Liggins
GM David Griffin isn’t concerned about the possibility of losing J.R. Smith, writes Sam Amico of Amicohoops. There reportedly has been little interest outside of Cleveland in the 30-year-old free agent shooting guard, who started 77 games during the regular season and was an important contributor to the Cavaliers’ championship run. “These things sometimes take time,” Griffin said. “When the time is right, something will get done. I’m very confident about that.” The team has remained in contact with with Smith, tweets Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com, who adds that Smith’s situation is not related to LeBron James‘ contract talks. Haynes says James is “no rush” to wrap up his new deal.
Sixers Acquire Sasha Kaun, Will Waive Him
5:52pm: The Sixers intend to waive Kaun, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). As I noted below, Cleveland sent Philadelphia enough cash to make the move worth the 76ers’ trouble, per Wojnarowski.
5:42pm: The Sixers and Cavaliers have completed a trade, according to a press release issued by the 76ers. The deal sends center Sasha Kaun and cash considerations to Philadelphia in exchange for the rights to Chu Chu Maduabum. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical tweets that the move clears the way for the Cavs to finalize their signing of Chris Andersen.
Kaun, 31, played his college ball at Kansas and was selected with the 56th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft. However, as a draft-and-stash prospect, it took him seven years to formally join an NBA roster. Kaun agreed to a two-year contract with the Cavaliers last summer, and still has one season remaining on that deal — he’s owed $1,333,420 in 2016/17.
In his lone season in Cleveland, Kaun didn’t see much action, averaging only 3.8 minutes in 25 games. While it’s possible he’ll see a larger role with the Sixers, Philadelphia has a logjam in its frontcourt at the moment, so this looks like a salary dump for Cleveland. I imagine the Cavs are sending the Sixers more than enough money to cover Kaun’s salary.
Meanwhile, the Cavs didn’t open up any cap room by moving Kaun, since cap holds for LeBron James and others ensure the team is still well over the cap. Wojnarowski’s suggestion that the move opens the door for the club to add Andersen is probably more about clearing a roster spot, and perhaps limiting the team’s tax bill.