- While no formal talks have been held, the Pistons are considering a contract extension for Reggie Bullock prior to the October 31st deadline, Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press relays. One concern regarding any extension with the swingman is the team’s proximity to the luxury tax line, a threshold that owner Tom Gores is willing to cross if it helps the team take the next step forward, Ellis adds. “Look, if we weren’t building a core, there’s really no point in paying the luxury tax,” Gores said. “Because we are building a core, would I do it? Yeah, absolutely. So you say go into the luxury tax for nothing, then that would be silly because then we’re putting the franchise behind. But given that we have such a good core, if that’s what it took, and we feel we’ve made such progress this year, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it because we want to keep getting better.”
- Although the Pistons‘ free agent moves the summer – with the exception of Andre Drummond‘s new deal – mostly involved adding complementary players, the team did have its sights set on one of the premier stars available. As Keith Langlois of Pistons.com details, Detroit was one of a handful of clubs to land a meeting with Al Horford. Stan Van Gundy explains that the Pistons could have fit in Horford and still added a backup point guard, but the team was ultimately happy to end up with Jon Leuer and Boban Marjanovic after Horford went to Boston. “It’s like a power hitter being able to take a swing at the home run and let it all go, but end up not striking out,” Van Gundy said.
- The Pistons signed Boban Marjanovic this offseason with the expectation that Aron Baynes would opt out of his deal for 2017/18 in order to land a more lucrative contract elsewhere, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes in response to a reader question asking the likelihood the big man would remain in Detroit beyond this season.
The offseason losses of Anthony Tolliver, Steve Blake and Joel Anthony cost the Pistons a combined 30 years of NBA service on their roster, notes Keith Langlois of NBA.com, and the potential leadership void entering the season concerns coach/executive Stan Van Gundy. “Absolutely. Absolute concern,” Van Gundy admitted. “If you look at what we did (over the off-season) and said, ‘OK, where’s the problem?’ – that would be it. We had three outstanding veteran leaders who were all about the right stuff.”
The NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement is designed to give teams certain benefits when it comes to re-signing their own free agents. Many players who reach free agency, for instance, are permitted to get 7.5% annual raises from their own teams, while they can only get 4.5% raises from another team. More notably, Bird rights free agents can sign five-year contracts with their own teams, but can only go up to four years with other clubs.
In some cases, that extra year doesn’t make much of a difference. Al Horford left Atlanta for Boston and signed a four-year contract with the Celtics, even though there were reports suggesting the Hawks were open to going to five years (albeit not quite for the max). Kevin Durant signed with the Warriors on a two-year contract that he’ll likely opt out of after the first year in order to maximize his future earnings.
Still, for at least a handful of players, that five-year contract appears to have played a part in their decisions to return to their own teams. As our Free Agent Tracker shows, six free agents signed five-year deals this year, and all six of those contracts were worth at least $85MM. Three of them were maximum-salary pacts.
Here are those five-year contracts, which will run through the 2020/21 season:
- Mike Conley (Grizzlies): Five years, $152,605,578 (partial guarantee in year five)
- DeMar DeRozan (Raptors): Five years, $137,500,000 (player option in year five)
- Andre Drummond (Pistons): Five years, $127,171,313 (player option in year five)
- Bradley Beal (Wizards): Five years, $127,171,313
- Nicolas Batum (Hornets): Five years, $120,000,000 (player option in year five)
- Evan Fournier (Magic): Five years, $85,000,000 (player option in year five)
Although Conley drew significant interest from the Mavericks, he was always a favorite to return to the Grizzlies, and none of the other five players on this list were seriously linked to another suitor, which is interesting.
Drummond and Beal were restricted free agents who got max deals, so there was never any suspense about their destinations, but plenty of teams would have been interested in prying away DeRozan from the Raptors, Batum from the Hornets, or Fournier from the Magic. The fact that those players’ teams were willing to offer five years likely made negotiations much simpler, since no rival suitor could offer that fifth year.
A five-year contract provides additional long-term security for free agents, and also gives the team the opportunity to give the player some agency as well. In four of the six deals listed above, the contract features a fifth-year player option.
That means DeRozan, Drummond, Batum, and Fournier have a safety net for that 2020/21 season — if they’re still playing at a high level at that point, it might make sense to opt out and sign a new longer-term contract. If their production has slipped, or if they’re battling injuries, they’ll have the option of remaining in their current contract and collecting a big pay check in that fifth year.
The ability to offer an additional year to their own free agents hasn’t always prevented teams from losing top-tier players on the open market, but there are still plenty of instances where that fifth year seems to make a difference. As the CBA opt-out date nears and the NBA and NBPA explore potential changes to their current agreement, it makes sense for this aspect of the CBA to remain unchanged. That extra long-term security may not appeal to every marquee free agent, but it does give a player’s current team a leg up, which is crucial if the league is worried about potential imbalance.
Owner Tom Gores has no problem paying the luxury tax should the Pistons need to cross the apron to keep their young core together, as he tells Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
- Gores believes executive/coach Stan Van Gundy has done an excellent job for the Pistons‘ front office because of his communication skills, as he tells Ellis in the same piece. “I’ve seen him be a president and a coach, but also a leader and an executive that really understands how to run a business. He’s running the business of basketball,” Gores said. “I’ve heard people say is he better GM than he was a coach.”
With the free agent signing period winding down and teams looking ahead to the preseason, we at Hoops Rumors will be tracking the Salary Cap figures for each team around the league. These posts will be maintained throughout the season once financial data is reported. They will be located on the sidebar throughout the year, once all the teams’ cap figures have been relayed. You can always check RosterResource.com for up-to-date rosters for each franchise, with the Pistons’ team page accessible here.
Here’s a breakdown of where the Pistons currently stand financially:
Guaranteed Salary
- Andre Drummond — $22,116,750 [Contract has Trade Kicker of 8%]
- Tobias Harris — $17,200,000
- Reggie Jackson — $14,956,522
- Jon Leuer — $10,991,957
- Boban Marjanovic — $7,000,000
- Aron Baynes — $6,500,000
- Ish Smith — $6,000,000
- Josh Smith — $5,331,729 [Waived via Stretch Provision]
- Marcus Morris — $4,625,000
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope — $3,678,319
- Stanley Johnson — $2,969,880
- Reggie Bullock — $2,255,644
- Henry Ellenson — $1,704,120
- Beno Udrih — $980,431 [Actual Salary — $1,551,659]
- Darrun Hilliard — $874,636
- Michael Gbinije — $650,000
- Nikola Jovanovic — $30,000 [Waived by team]
- Trey Freeman — $25,000 [Waived by team]
- Ray McCallum — $11,949 [Waived by team]
Total Guaranteed Salary= $107,901,937
Cash Sent Out Via Trade: $0 [Amount Remaining $3.5MM]
Cash Received Via Trade: $0 [Amount Remaining $3.5MM]
Payroll Exceptions Available
- Room Exception: $2,898,000
Total Projected Payroll: $107,901,937
Salary Cap: $94,143,000
Estimated Available Cap Space: –$13,758,937
Luxury Tax Threshold: $113,287,000
Amount Below Luxury Tax: $5,385,063
Last Updated: 1/11/17
The Basketball Insiders salary pages and The Vertical’s salary database were used in the creation of this post.
Over the course of the last week, we’ve been breaking down 2016 NBA free agent spending by division, examining which teams – and divisions – were the most active this summer.
These divisional breakdowns won’t present a full picture of teams’ offseason spending. Some notable free agents, including LeBron James, remain unsigned, so there’s still money out there to be spent. Our lists also don’t include money spent on this year’s first- and second-round picks or draft-and-stash signings. There are a few free agent names missing in some instances as well, since those deals aren’t yet official or terms haven’t been reported.
Still, these closer looks at divisional spending should generally reveal how teams invested their money in free agency this summer, identifying which clubs went all-out and which ones played it safe.
With the help of our Free Agent Tracker and contract info from Basketball Insiders, we’ll focus today on the Central division. Our breakdowns of all five other divisions can be found linked at the bottom of this post.
Let’s dive in…
1. Detroit Pistons
- Total money committed: $207,171,313
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $207,171,313
- Largest expenditure: Andre Drummond (five years, $127,171,313)
- Other notable signings:
- Jon Leuer (four years, $41,000,000)
- Boban Marjanovic (three years, $21,000,000)
- Ish Smith (three years, $18,000,000)
- Notes:
- Ray McCallum’s deal is not included in these totals, since it’s a summer contract which won’t count toward the Pistons’ cap unless he makes the regular-season roster.
2. Milwaukee Bucks
- Total money committed: $119,530,000
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $119,530,000
- Largest expenditure: Miles Plumlee (four years, $49,600,000)
- Other notable signings:
- Matthew Dellavedova (four years, $38,430,000)
- Mirza Teletovic (three years, $31,500,000)
- Notes:
- Dellavedova’s contract was technically the result of a sign-and-trade deal by the Cavaliers, but we’re considering it a Milwaukee signing.
3. Chicago Bulls
- Total money committed: $78,532,117
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $65,215,696
- Largest expenditure: Dwyane Wade (two years, $47,000,000)
- Other notable signings:
- Rajon Rondo (two years, $27,397,000)
- Isaiah Canaan (two years, minimum salary)
- Notes:
- Rondo’s second-year salary of $13.397MM is partially guaranteed for $3MM.
4. Indiana Pacers
- Total money committed: $32,700,000
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $26,700,000
- Largest expenditure: Al Jefferson (three years, $30,000,000)
- Other notable signings:
- Aaron Brooks (one year, $2,700,000)
- Notes:
- Jefferson’s third-year salary of $10MM is partially guaranteed for $4MM.
5. Cleveland Cavaliers
- Total money committed: $9,573,362
- Guaranteed money committed (including player options): $6,960,862
- Largest expenditure: Richard Jefferson (three years, $7,612,500)
- Other notable signings:
- Chris Andersen (one year, minimum salary)
- James Jones (one year, minimum salary)
- Notes:
- Andersen and Jones will earn $1,551,659 apiece on their minimum-salary deals, but will only be paid $980,431 each by the Cavaliers, with the NBA on the hook for the rest.
- Jefferson’s third-year salary of $2,612,500 is fully non-guaranteed.
- DeAndre Liggins‘ deal has been officially signed, but exact terms of that contract haven’t been reported, so we haven’t included it in the Cavs’ totals for now.
- The Cavs have also yet to formally re-sign LeBron James, whose new contract will bump up the club’s free agent expenditures significantly. A new deal for J.R. Smith may also be on the horizon.
Previously:
WEST:
EAST:
- In his latest mailbag at NBA.com, Keith Langlois discusses a handful of Pistons-related topics, including the possibility of a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope extension and Stanley Johnson‘s role and future with the team.
Ryan Boatright, who was waived by the Nets and Pistons last year, has signed with the Foshan Lions in China, tweets international basketball writer David Pick.
Boatright, who helped Connecticut win the NCAA championship in 2014, spent parts of last season with the Grand Rapids Drive in the D-League and Serie A in the Italian League. The 5’11” point guard went undrafted in 2015 and played for the Nets’ summer league team. He was waived by Brooklyn in October, then signed and waived by Detroit a few days later.
Boatright played for the Pelicans’ team in this year’s summer league. He was among several veterans who worked out for the Timberwolves last month.