Southwest Notes: Smith, Howard, Mavs
The rash of injuries that have befallen the Rockets could force the team to push injured center Dwight Howard to return to action sooner than anticipated, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “We are so down on bodies and we don’t have a lot of practice time,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We might have to start throwing him out there and letting him get some minutes in the game, whether he starts out 15-20 minutes and getting game time. But he has to start playing here pretty soon because otherwise the season is just going to go by and you can’t wait for the playoffs to come back, so we’ll see.” Howard has been out since early February with an injured right knee.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Grizzlies re-assigned Russ Smith to the Iowa Energy, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This is the sixth trek of the season to the D-League for Smith.
- Monta Ellis and Rajon Rondo don’t appear to be a good backcourt pairing for the Mavs, which is something that the team will need to consider this summer, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. Rondo is set to become an unrestricted free agent and Ellis has a player option worth $8.72MM that he can opt out of.
- Marc Gasol sounds like a player who is intent on remaining with the Grizzlies, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal (subscription required) writes. “I don’t know what factors are going to play into my decision. But you can’t change the past,” Gasol said. “You can’t change where I’ve been for the majority of my life as an adult. My family has been tied to the franchise since the franchise has been in Memphis. You can’t change that. I don’t know what the future holds but I know what the past and the present is. That’s pretty clear.” Gasol will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Southwest Notes: Gasol, Ellis, Green, Powell
The Knicks have looked like long shots to land Marc Gasol in free agency this summer, but the big man says they and every other team still stand a chance, simply because he hasn’t considered what he’ll do, as he told reporters today, including Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. The Grizzlies are in New York to play the Knicks tonight.
“I haven’t ruled anything out because I haven’t thought about anything so it would be [premature],” Gasol said. “The reports and stuff like that, I don’t know where they come from because in my mind I haven’t thought about it. I have no [idea] how they can go there. I don’t know. … We’re in the final stretch of the regular season and we want to get in a good feeling for the playoffs so, trust me, I’m not worrying or thinking about those things yet.”
That jibes with earlier reports that suggest Gasol has an open mind but no plans to leave Memphis, where he has deep roots. Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- People within the Mavericks have been worried for weeks about Monta Ellis‘ moody demeanor and its effect on the locker room even though the team has publicly backed the shooting guard through his slump, reports Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. It’s a sharp turnaround for Ellis, as MacMahon believes his free agent stock is falling each day. Ellis has an $8.72MM player option for next season.
- Jeff Green came to Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger to suggest a bench role, and not the other way around, as Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal notes. Green simply hasn’t fit into the team’s starting group as well as past midseason wing acquisitions Courtney Lee and Tayshaun Prince have, though continued hot shooting from Green would mitigate the issue., Herrington observes. Green can leave the Grizzlies in free agency this summer, but he’d have to turn down a $9.2MM player option to do so.
- The Mavs have recalled Dwight Powell from the D-League, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. The rookie big man acquired in the Rajon Rondo trade went off for 32 points and nine rebounds in 44 minutes Saturday for the D-League Texas Legends.
JaVale McGee Backs Off Player Option Demand
JaVale McGee now prefers a deal that carries only through the end of the season, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, who writes in his weekly power rankings. That indicates a turnabout from earlier this month, when he was reportedly seeking a player option for 2015/16 on any deal. That was apparently at the root of failed negotiations with the Celtics, who wanted a team option. Most of the contending teams reportedly inquired about the B.J. Armstrong client earlier this month, and, as Spears reports today, McGee still wants to play for a postseason contender.
It’s unclear if the lack of an insistence on a player option will spark a renewed interest, as chatter about the 27-year-old has slowed considerably after a brief period in which he seemed a prime target following his release from the Sixers. The Mavs were “seriously interested” a few weeks ago, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported then, but Spears reported last week that they were no longer in pursuit. The Rockets, Raptors and Heat also appeared to be teams in the mix for McGee at the time of the strong interest from Dallas, but even at that point, there was “no way” the Raptors would cross the tax line to sign him, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
While Houston, Miami and Toronto likely wouldn’t go over the tax threshold for this season with a multiyear arrangement for the minimum salary, a one-year deal reduces McGee’s cost if he signs for the minimum. That’s because the league would cover the difference between the two-year veteran’s minimum and the minimum for a six-year veteran like McGee if the contract only covered a single season. It would mean a savings of $32,533 for this season for a team that signs him to a one-year minimum deal instead of a two-year minimum deal, and it would come with the cost certainty of knowing that McGee couldn’t force the team to pay him a salary for next season, too.
Southwest Notes: Rockets, Terry, Mavs
Memphis sits atop the Southwest Division with a record of 49-21. New Orleans resides in last place in the division, but sits two games back of the Thunder for the eighth seed in the Western Conference with a record of 37-32. The division could become the first since the Central Division in 2006 to have all of its teams make the playoffs.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Rockets have had their share of injuries this season, but the team views it as an opportunity to get other players valuable experience, writes Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. “It gives the other guys more chances to play and they have to come in the game and really make impacts,” forward Josh Smith said. “It’s a chance for us to be better as a whole.”
- Rockets guard Jason Terry admires the career of Steve Nash, who announced his retirement on Saturday, writes Jenny Dial Creech in a separate piece. “He brought back the point in point guard position in our era,” Terry said. “It was a time where guards were starting to become scoring guards. He was a true general on the floor. He was never selfish. He always looked to make his teammates better and he will be missed, but his mark on history will be left.”
- Dallas only has $28.06MM in guaranteed salary on the books for 2015/16 season, as Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors notes in his Mavs‘ Salary Commitments piece. That figure doesn’t include player options for Raymond Felton, Al-Farouq Aminu and Monta Ellis. I’d speculate that Ellis and Aminu both turn down their options and become free agents.
Western Notes: Collison, Jones, Powell
The salary cap could jump from $90MM in 2016/17 to as much as $105MM the year after, league sources tell Zach Lowe of Grantland.com. With all the buzz surrounding Kevin Durant, Lowe notes that the increase could give the Thunder another chance to add talent without going into the luxury tax. Although, he adds that giving Serge Ibaka a maximum salary contract on his next deal could limit their flexibility.
Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- The Thunder‘s injury woes continue as coach Scott Brooks informed reporters that Nick Collison is expected to miss at least 10 days with an ankle injury, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman relays. Collison joins Durant, Ibaka and Enes Kanter on the injured list, Mayberry notes. “One thing I do know is our guys are going to continue to fight and rally and our crowd is going to continue to support our guys because they give effort,” Brooks said. “We’ve never, ever given up and felt sorry for ourselves. Our team’s going to continue to rally around each other and help each other fight through it. We’ve had some tough moments this year. That has never stopped us from competing, never stopped us from trying to improve.”
- Rockets players have missed a combined 137 games this season due to injury or illness thus far, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle notes. The latest Houston player to sustain an injury is Terrence Jones who suffered a collapsed lung during Thursday night’s contest. Jones will be out of action indefinitely as a result of his injury, Feigen relays. “Guys have to step up,” coach Kevin McHale said. “I sure wish Kostas Papanikolaou [who has been out for 13 games with a sprained ankle] was ready to play, but he’s not ready to play, either. We just have to deal with it and go.“
- The Mavs have re-assigned Dwight Powell to the Texas Legends, their D-League affiliate, the team announced in a press release.
And-Ones: Lottery, Monroe, Harris
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said changes to the draft lottery favored by the majority of teams will likely be postponed because the NBA Players Association recently turned down the league’s smoothing proposal regarding salary-cap increases, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. The dramatic increase in the salary cap from $63MM to an estimated $90MM during the summer of 2016 makes changes to the lottery system unfeasible, Silver told Houston-based reporters on Thursday. “What I am hearing from some of the general managers in the league is that because it’s unclear how the cap will operate with a massive amount of cap room in ’16 and ’17 and potentially in the year after that it may be premature to change the lottery until we have a better understanding of what the changed behavior will be, so it’s something we are going to continue to look at,” Silver said.
In other news around the league:
- The Pistons are unlikely to sign and trade Greg Monroe this summer, David Mayo of MLive.com opines. Mayo doubts that any team interested in signing Monroe, who becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, would give up anything of value for him. The Pistons would probably have to take back a bad contract to execute such a deal, which makes it unwise for them to make such a move, Mayo continues. The only party who would truly benefit from a sign-and-trade deal would be Monroe, who could get a bigger contract without having to return to Detroit, Mayo concludes.
- Dirk Nowitzki is averaging 20.3 points on 52.4% shooting from the field for the Mavericks over the last three games and a less taxing schedule is the primary reason for the veteran forward’s recent outburst, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. Nowitzki said to the team’s beat writers that longer stretches in-between games has made him feel fresher, “Going into the break, I think we had the most games in the league,” Nowitzki said. “Then coming out of the break, we had the shortest break and then we had five games in seven days. A brutal stretch for us, but finally it slowed down a little bit. It allowed us to get a little healthy, mix in some good rest with good work. I think it helped us and helped me.”
- The Cavaliers assigned guard Joe Harris to their D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, Cleveland GM David Griffin announced Friday on the team’s official website. Harris has appeared in 47 games with the Cavs this season, averaging 2.5 points in 9.2 minutes per game. He has played in seven games for the Charge, averaging 17.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 32.3 minutes per game.
2015/16 Salary Commitments: Mavericks
With the NBA trade deadline now passed, teams are focusing on locking down playoff spots or vying for a better chance in the draft lottery. Outside of the players who are added on 10-day deals, or those lucky enough to turn those auditions into long-term contracts, teams’ rosters are relatively set for the remainder of the season.
We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in at $67.4MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.
We’ll continue by taking a look at the Mavericks’ cap outlook for 2015/16…
Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:
- Devin Harris — $4,053,446
- Gal Mekel (Stretch Provision) — $315,759
- Dirk Nowitzki — $8,333,334
- Chandler Parsons — $15,361,500
Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:
- Dwight Powell — $845,059
Players with options:
- Al-Farouq Aminu (Player Option) — $1,100,602
- Monta Ellis (Player Option) — $8,720,000
- Raymond Felton (Player Option) — $3,950,313
The Mavs’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:
- Guaranteed Salary: $28,064,039
- Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $14,615,974
- Total: $42,680,013
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Players With The Largest Cap Holds For 2015/16
Bird rights help teams re-sign their own players, but cap holds are what prevent the same teams from loading up on high-salaried players of their own while also spending lavishly on free agents from other teams. It’s still possible for teams to do that to a degree, depending on the amount of cap flexibility they have, their willingness to renounce their Bird rights to some of their players, and just how high the cap escalates from one year to the next. Cap holds will be less troublesome after next season, when the cap is expected to surge into $90MM territory.
Still, for this year, cap holds are what stand between the illusion of cap space and reality. The Grizzlies have only about $38MM in guaranteed salary for next season, but the notion that they’ll enter the summer with significant cap room is far-fetched if they have designs on keeping Marc Gasol. The sought-after Spanish center will represent a cap hold of about 30% of the salary cap, equivalent to the maximum salary he can make next season. For the right to give Gasol a fifth year in his next deal, along with higher annual raises than he can see elsewhere, the Grizzlies have to keep that maximum amount, likely to be in excess of $18MM, on their books, and they wouldn’t be able to use it to sign other free agents. The Grizzlies surely wouldn’t renounce their Bird rights to Gasol, and the cap hold that comes with it, unless he commits to another team. Those rights are automatically renounced if he signs elsewhere, but that’s clearly not the ideal outcome for Memphis. Factor in Jeff Green‘s $9.2MM player option, and it seems certain that the Grizzlies would only get to use cap space to replace players who depart this summer, not to build around them.
The Knicks are in a different situation with Andrea Bargnani. There’s apparently mutual interest in a new deal, but likely at a drastically reduced price compared to the $11.5MM he’s making this season. Cap holds usually represent much higher amounts than a player’s previous salary, to account for the potential of a raise, so Bargnani’s cap hold will come in at $17.25MM. New York, with only about $32.4MM in guaranteed salary for next season, would surely prefer to use most of that $17.25MM worth of potential cap space on others. Thus, it seems likely that unless the Knicks and Bargnani agree to a new, cheaper deal during the July Moratorium and quickly finalize the contract at moratorium’s end, the team would renounce his Bird rights. The team could still circle back to sign him using a smaller chunk of cap space or the room exception.
Here’s a look at every soon-to-be free agent whose cap hold will represent at least $10MM on the books for their respective teams this summer. Players who have options on their contracts aren’t listed, so conceivably, this list could be even longer. In any case, the players atop the list will likely represent cap holds equivalent to the maximum salaries, which are based on experience and a percentage of the salary cap. The precise values of the maxes won’t be known until after the moratorium, so we’ve included last year’s figures as a guide. Those numbers are likely to escalate this season with the rising cap.
- Tyson Chandler, Mavericks — Cap hold likely to be 35% max ($20.644MM this season)
- LaMarcus Aldridge, Trail Blazers — Cap hold likely to be 30% max ($17.695MM this season)
- Marc Gasol, Grizzlies — Cap hold likely to be 30% max ($17.695MM this season)
- Rajon Rondo, Mavericks — Cap hold likely to be 30% max ($17.695MM this season)
- Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves — $18MM
- Andrea Bargnani, Knicks — $17.25MM
- DeAndre Jordan, Clippers — $17.160MM
- Tim Duncan, Spurs — $15.542MM
- Steve Nash, Lakers — $14.552MM
- Marcus Thornton, Suns — $12.863MM
- Derrick Williams, Kings — $12.663MM
- Omer Asik, Pelicans — $12.562MM
- Jeremy Lin, Lakers — $12.562MM
- Paul Millsap, Hawks — $12.35MM
- Tristan Thompson, Cavaliers — $11.916MM
- Tayshaun Prince, Pistons — $11.562MM
- Enes Kanter, Thunder — $11.389MM
- Wesley Matthews, Trail Blazers — $10.868MM
- Manu Ginobili, Spurs — $10.5MM
- Amir Johnson, Raptors — $10.5MM
- Greg Monroe, Pistons — $10.412MM
- Brandon Bass, Celtics — $10.35MM
Note: The figures here are rounded to the nearest $1K.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Western Notes: Wiggins, Chandler, Booker
The Raptors are reportedly already planning a run at Andrew Wiggins, and there are apparently whispers that he’d love to play for his hometown Toronto team someday, even though he can’t elect unrestricted free agency until 2019. Still, Wiggins said today, in advance of tonight’s Timberwolves-Raptors game, that he’s quite content in Minnesota, making his remarks to reporters, including Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link).
“I love Minnesota,” he said. “They treat me nice up there. I plan to be there a very, very, very long time.”
That’s no doubt the plan for the Wolves, too, who acquired the 2014 No. 1 overall pick this year in the Kevin Love trade. Here’s more from the Western Conference:
- Tyson Chandler knew the Mavericks were trying to trade for him this past summer, but he didn’t think it would happen, as he tells Ian Thomsen of NBA.com. “I think the Knicks had rejected every possible trade that they offered,” Chandler said. “I didn’t think I was going from New York. The Knicks had visited me to teach me the triangle offense two days before I got traded. So I definitely didn’t think [a] trade was in the works.”
- The Jazz are 11-2 since the trade deadline, when the deal that sent Enes Kanter out created more playing time for Trevor Booker. The ex-Wizards power forward didn’t expect Utah to play this well when he signed with the Jazz in the offseason, and he wants to remain with the team, as he tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. Only $250K of his $4.775MM salary for next season is guaranteed.
- Pelicans coach Monty Williams praised Eric Gordon for putting the team above himself when he decided not to have surgery on the torn labrum in his left shoulder, a move that would have helped ensure he’s 100% for next season, the last on his contract, observes Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. Gordon can hit free agency as soon as this summer if he chooses, though he’d have to turn down a player option worth more than $15.514MM to do so.
Western Notes: Clippers, Green, Stokes, Rondo
Doc Rivers confirmed to reporters, including Dan Woike of the Orange County Register, that the Clippers could look to add another small forward in wake of the hamstring injury to Matt Barnes (Twitter link). Los Angeles has been reportedly keeping a close eye on the health of Jordan Hamilton, who sprained his ankle on the last day of his second 10-day deal with the club, as well as monitoring Eric Griffin, who’s currently playing in the D-League. While we wait to see if either player inks a deal with the Clippers in the near future, we’ll round up more from out West..
- Earlier reports suggested the Warriors have given “every indication” that they’ll match any offer sheet presented to restricted free agent Draymond Green this summer, and Mychal Thompson – Klay Thompson’s father – spoke with a team executive whose testimony jibed with that notion (Twitter link via Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group).
- The Grizzlies are sending Jarnell Stokes on his sixth D-League assignment this season, the team announced via press release. Stokes will re-join the Iowa Energy, with whom he’s averaged impressive marks of 18.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in six games.
- Although Rajon Rondo hasn’t put up All-Star-caliber numbers for the Mavericks thus far, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News argues that a package consisting of Jameer Nelson, some bench pieces, and a first-round pick wasn’t too high of a price to pay for player with Rondo’s pedigree.