Jason Terry Named Coach Of Nuggets’ G League Affiliate
6:56pm: The Nuggets have officially hired Terry as the Grand Rapids Gold head coach, according to a team press release.
2:39pm: Former NBA guard Jason Terry is finalizing a deal to coach the Nuggets‘ new G League affiliate, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Terry, a former NBA champion and Sixth Man of the Year winner, last played in the NBA in 2018. He joined the Texas Legends – Dallas’ G League affiliate – as an assistant general manager in 2019, then left the team to become an assistant coach at his alma mater of Arizona for the 2020/21 season.
Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who reported in June that Terry was in the mix for an assistant role on Jason Kidd‘s coaching staff, tweets that Terry spent some time in Las Vegas observing the Mavericks’ coaches and weighing the possibility of joining the team as an assistant. However, it seems Terry determined that becoming a head coach at the G League level will move him closer to his goal of eventually coaching an NBA team, notes Townsend.
The Nuggets, who had previously been one of the only NBA teams without an NBAGL affiliate, entered a partnership with the Grand Rapids Drive earlier in 2021 and rebranded the franchise, which will now be known as the Grand Rapids Gold.
Since the Gold are based in Michigan, it won’t be easy for the Nuggets to quickly shuttle players back and forth between Denver and Grand Rapids. But it will give the franchise an opportunity to assign players to the G League without having to worry about how another team’s affiliate will use and develop them.
Kleber Could Be Key To Markkanen Deal
The Mavericks would be happy to acquire Lauri Markkanen from the Bulls if he would agree sign under market value so they could fit him into their $11MM traded player exception, according to Tim Cato of The Athletic. In that sign-and-trade scenario, the Mavericks likely wouldn’t have to give up a rotation player.
The alternative would be to offer Markkanen a three-year deal in the $44MM range. The Bulls have some interest in Maxi Kleber, Cato adds. Kleber has a base salary of $8.75MM next season and his 2022/23 salary is non-guaranteed. However, the Mavericks would be giving up a rotation piece and replacing him with a player with a higher salary.
- The Mavericks are looking to add another assistant to Jason Kidd’s staff, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News, who tweets that they’ve interviewed at least two female candidates with the aim of hiring one of them if the right candidate is found. Dallas had a female assistant last season in Jenny Boucek, who joined Rick Carlisle‘s staff in Indiana.
California Notes: Iguodala, Bledsoe, Metu, Longabardi
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is excited to have veteran swingman Andre Iguodala back for his second stint with the club, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“He means the world to us,” Kerr told Poole, echoing a sentiment he recently expressed to The Athletic. “The last two seasons, we’ve been somewhat rudderless in many ways. I suspect we’re going to get our rudder back with Andre.”
Iguodala signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Golden State after spending the last two seasons with the Grizzlies (for whom he never played) and Heat.
There’s more out of California:
- The Clippers‘ reunion with point guard Eric Bledsoe received an A-minus grade from Kevin Pelton of ESPN. Bledsoe was re-acquired in a trade this week that sent point guards Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo and center Daniel Oturu to the Grizzlies. Pelton praised the cost savings of the deal, which will amount to a reduction of about $30MM off L.A.’s luxury tax bill. Pelton also notes that the younger, more durable Bledsoe could prove to be an on-court upgrade for the Clippers as well, though he struggled in recent playoff appearances with the Bucks.
- Fourth-year Kings center Chimezie Metu has been suspended for one Summer League game after punching two-way rookie Mavericks forward Eugene Omoruyi in the head during the fourth quarter of an eventual 86-70 win Sunday, per an NBA press release (Twitter link). Metu will miss the Summer League title game on Tuesday against the Celtics.
- The Kings will be hiring Mike Longabardi as a front-of-bench assistant coach, per Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). Longabardi, most recently an assistant with the Wizards since 2019, won the 2008 title as a Celtics assistant and the 2016 championship as a Cavaliers assistant.
Southwest Notes: Lowry, Louzada, Barea, Omoruyi
The Mavericks were runners-up to the Heat in the free agency competition for Kyle Lowry, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. A source tells Jackson that the Mavs were willing to pay what Lowry was seeking and he was intrigued by the possibility of playing in Dallas, but his first choice was to join Jimmy Butler in Miami. Lowry wound up getting $85MM over three years, and joined the Heat in a sign-and-trade.
The Pelicans were also interested in Lowry and were willing to offer $90MM or more for three seasons, Jackson adds. However, Jackson’s source says Lowry didn’t give strong consideration to New Orleans.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The new four-year deal for Pelicans swingman Didi Louzada is valued at about $7.69MM, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. The first two seasons are fully guaranteed and the final two are non-guaranteed. New Orleans held non-Bird rights on Louzada and his contract starts at 120% of the $1.489MM minimum, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Marks notes that the Pelicans still have their entire $9.5MM mid-level exception available, along with a $17.1MM trade exception.
- Longtime Mavericks player J.J. Barea will return to the organization in some capacity, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). The exact role hasn’t been finalized for Barea, who spent 11 of his 14 NBA seasons with the Mavs. “I’m going to be involved, and I’m definitely excited,” said Barea, who served as an unofficial assistant coach in today’s Summer League game.
- Rookie forward Eugene Omoruyi talked to Townsend after signing a two-way contract with the Mavericks on Friday (video link).
Mavericks Sign Eugene Omoruyi To Two-Way Contract
The Mavericks have signed rookie Eugene Omoruyi to a two-way contract, the team’s PR department tweets.
Omoruyi went undrafted after spending one season at Oregon and three at Rutgers. Dallas’ decision to ink Omoruyi to a contract was reported right after the draft and the franchise obviously likes the 6’6” small forward enough to hand him one of its two-ways.
Omoruyi averaged 17.1 PPG and 5.4 RPG on .473/.376/.765 shooting in 28 games (30.6 MPG) with the Ducks. In two summer league contests, Omoruyi is averaging 16.0 PPG and 7.0 RPG.
The Mavs’ other two-way slot is occupied by guard Nate Hinton. Dallas now has a full 17-man roster, though the club can add up to three more players to its offseason squad.
Largest Trade Exceptions Created This Offseason
A total of 26 trades have been completed to so far during the 2021 NBA offseason, and many of those deals generated at least one “traded player exception.”
As we explain in our glossary, a traded player exception allows a team to take on salary in a trade without sending out any salary in return. The amount of the exception plus $100K is the amount of salary the team is permitted to take back without salary-matching – either in a single deal or in multiple trades – for one year.
For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception could acquire a player earning $4MM and a player earning $6.1MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.
One of the biggest trade exceptions ever created – the Thunder‘s $27.5MM TPE from last November’s Steven Adams trade – expired last week without being used, but Oklahoma City still has a pair of sizeable exceptions to work with, as our tracker shows. The team could also create upwards of $30MM in cap space by renouncing all its exceptions, including the mid-level and bi-annual.
While the Thunder have some big traded player exceptions, they aren’t one of the teams that created sizable new TPEs in offseason deals this year. Here are the largest new trade exceptions generated this summer:
- New Orleans Pelicans: $17,073,171 (Steven Adams)
- Brooklyn Nets: $11,454,048 (Spencer Dinwiddie)
- Dallas Mavericks: $10,865,952 (Josh Richardson)
- Boston Celtics: $9,720,900 (Tristan Thompson)
- Note: It’s unclear whether the Celtics absorbed Bruno Fernando‘s salary ($1,782,621) using the Thompson exception or their Kemba Walker trade exception ($6,879,100). We’re assuming for now that Fernando slotted into the Walker exception, reducing its value to $5,096,479. However, if he went into the Thompson TPE, its value would be reduced to $7,938,279.
- Utah Jazz: $7,475,379 (Derrick Favors)
- Note: There was an expectation that the Jazz would slot Eric Paschall‘s salary ($1,782,621) into one of two trade exceptions that were set to expire on August 6. However, it appears the deal wasn’t completed until August 7 for logistical reasons, meaning the Favors TPE (originally $9,258,000) would’ve had to be used.
- Indiana Pacers: $7,333,333 (Doug McDermott)
- Chicago Bulls: $5,000,000 (Daniel Theis)
For a second straight year, a team generated the largest trade exception of the offseason by trading Adams. This time around, it was the Pelicans, who cleverly folded separate trade agreements with the Grizzlies and Hornets into one three-team deal, sending Wesley Iwundu to Charlotte to ensure that Adams’ salary wouldn’t be required for matching purposes.
The Pelicans and Mavericks are the two best candidates on this list to make use of their newly-created exceptions at some point. The larger the exception is, the easier it is to find a use for, and those are two of the three biggest in this group.
The other big TPE belongs to the Nets, but they’re already way over the tax line and will be reluctant to take on more salary unless they have a really good reason to do so. That’s probably true of most of the other teams on this list too — the Celtics and Jazz in particular have to be conscious of luxury-tax concerns as they mull the possibility of taking on additional salary. New Orleans and Dallas have more wiggle room, while the Pacers and Bulls are somewhere in between.
The full list of available trade exceptions can be found here.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.
NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2021/22
The NBA salary cap is somewhat malleable, with various exceptions allowing every team to surpass the $112,414,000 threshold once their cap room is used up. In some cases, teams blow past not only the cap limit, but the luxury-tax line of $136,606,000 as well — the Nets and Warriors, for instance, project to have nine-figure tax bills this season as a result of their spending.
The NBA doesn’t have a “hard cap” by default, which allows clubs like Brooklyn and Golden State to build a significant payroll without violating CBA rules. However, there are certain scenarios in which teams can be hard-capped, as we explain in a glossary entry.
When a club uses the bi-annual exception, acquires a player via sign-and-trade, or uses more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception (three years, starting at $5,890,000), that club will face a hard cap for the remainder of the league year.
When a team becomes hard-capped, it cannot exceed the “tax apron” at any point during the rest of the league year. The tax apron for 2021/22 was set at $143,002,000.
So far, over a third of the teams in the NBA have been willing to hard-cap themselves this offseason. Some teams will have to be aware of that hard cap when they consider any roster move for the rest of the season, but for others it’s just a technicality that won’t affect their plans.
Listed below are the hard-capped teams for the 2021/22 league year, along with how they created a hard cap.
Chicago Bulls
- Acquired Lonzo Ball from Pelicans via sign-and-trade.
- Acquired DeMar DeRozan from Spurs via sign-and-trade.
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Alex Caruso.
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Acquired Lauri Markkanen from Bulls via sign-and-trade.
Dallas Mavericks
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Reggie Bullock.
- Used bi-annual exception on Sterling Brown.
Houston Rockets
- Acquired Daniel Theis from Bulls via sign-and-trade.
Miami Heat
- Acquired Kyle Lowry from Raptors via sign-and-trade.
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on P.J. Tucker.
New Orleans Pelicans
- Acquired Devonte’ Graham from Hornets via sign-and-trade.
- Acquired Garrett Temple from Bulls via sign-and-trade.
New York Knicks
- Acquired Evan Fournier from Celtics via sign-and-trade.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.
San Antonio Spurs
- Acquired Doug McDermott from Pacers via sign-and-trade.
Toronto Raptors
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Khem Birch.
Washington Wizards
- Acquired Spencer Dinwiddie from Nets via sign-and-trade.
- Used non-taxpayer mid-level exception on Isaiah Todd.
This list, which could continue to grow, will continue to be updated throughout the 2021/22 league year as necessary. It can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.
Southwest Notes: Z. Collins, Grizzlies, Doncic, Pelicans
Zach Collins‘ new three-year deal with the Spurs, reported to be worth $22MM, will technically come in at $22.05MM, but a significant chunk of the deal is non-guaranteed, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
According to Marks, Collins will earn a fully guaranteed $7MM salary in 2021/22, but only half of his $7.35MM salary in ’22/23 is guaranteed and his $7.7MM cap hit for ’23/24 is fully non-guaranteed.
Collins, who has undergone multiple foot surgeries during the last two seasons and has been limited to 11 total games during that time, is assured of receiving at least $10.675M on his new contract. However, if he continues to battle health problems, the Spurs could cut ties as early as next summer without a major financial hit.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- In a look at the Grizzlies‘ roster situation, Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian notes that it remains unclear what the team’s plan is for Eric Bledsoe. When Memphis first agreed to its trade with New Orleans in July, a report indicated that Bledsoe likely wouldn’t play for the Grizzlies, but the veteran guard remains on the roster for the time being.
- Appearing at Summer League in Las Vegas after returning from Slovenia, new Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison said the front office’s trip to Luka Doncic‘s home country was “bigger than just a big contract” and was about showing “respect” to the team’s franchise player. Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News has the story.
- Exploring the NBA’s investigation into the Bulls’ and Heat’s sign-and-trade acquisitions of Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry, respectively, veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein suggests the Pelicans and Raptors may not face any penalties if last year’s Bogdan Bogdanovic case is any indication — Milwaukee was fined and docked a draft pick, but Sacramento wasn’t disciplined. While Stein may be right, I think the Pelicans have reason to be concerned. If the league’s focus is on sign-and-trade acquisitions completed suspiciously quickly, it’s worth noting that New Orleans received Garrett Temple via sign-and-trade as part of the Ball deal.
Doncic Received Trade Kicker In Extension
- Luka Doncic‘s new contract extension includes a 15% trade kicker, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. However, the trade bonus would only kick in if the cap rose significantly in the future, since a trade bonus can’t increase a player’s salary beyond the maximum and the All-NBA guard has already qualified for a higher max salary than he’d typically be eligible for. Doncic’s five-year, $207MM extension with the Mavericks became official on Tuesday.
Mavs Notes: Doncic Extension, Dragic, Hardaway, Brown
The Mavericks recently traveled to the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana to present star Luka Doncic with his five-year, $207MM extension, the most expensive rookie contract in NBA history, writes ESPN’s Royce Young.
According to team owner Mark Cuban, having the signing take place in Doncic’s home country was meant to send a message to the 22-year-old, two-time All-NBA guard:
“Just to confirm to Luka how important he is to us and how this is just the beginning,” Cuban said. “We want him to know we’re there for him, whether that’s here in Slovenia, in Dallas, or anywhere in the world. Part of this process is not only getting to know him but getting to know what’s important to him. How he looks at things.”
Doncic, for his part, claims that his signing the Mavs’ offer was “never in doubt.”
We have more news from the Mavericks:
- Tim Cato and Blake Murphy of The Athletic discuss why Goran Dragic remains a Raptor, rather than having being re-routed to Dallas. Murphy writes that the Raptors have no incentive to buy out Dragic, who could still return value in a trade. Cato adds that the Mavs would be more likely to include Dwight Powell in trade talks than Maxi Kleber, but Josh Green could be a candidate to be moved if he remains in a limited role and the team continues to struggle in its non-Doncic minutes.
- Details have emerged on Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s $75MM contract with the Mavs. Tim MacMahon of ESPN breaks down the descending structure of Hardaway’s deal, which will start at $21.3MM and end in the 2024/25 season at $16.19MM.
- Recently-signed Sterling Brown‘s contract is fully guaranteed at $6MM over two years, tweets ESPN’s Zach Lowe. The contract will come out of the Mavs’ bi-annual exception. Given Dallas’ lack of wing depth and his defensive ability at 6’5 and career 37.4% shooting from three, Brown will likely be counted on as an important bench contributor this season.