Free Agent Spending By Division: Central
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:
Langlois On Caldwell-Pope, Johnson, Pistons
- 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 To Play In China
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.
Pistons Sign Ray McCallum
JULY 26: The Pistons have officially signed McCallum, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 25: The Pistons have reached an agreement with free agent guard Ray McCallum, reports Michael Scotto of The Associated Press. According to Scotto (via Twitter), McCallum will ink a one-year, minimum-salary deal with Detroit.
[RELATED: Pistons’ 2016 free agent signings, via our Free Agent Tracker]
For McCallum, joining the Pistons will represent a homecoming of sorts. Although he was born in Wisconsin, the former second-round pick attended high school in Detroit, and played his college ball at the University of Detroit Mercy. Since entering the NBA in 2013, McCallum has spent time with the Kings, Spurs, and Grizzlies.
Last season, McCallum appeared in 31 games for the Spurs before being waived and joining the Grizzlies for 10 games down the stretch. The 25-year-old rarely saw any action in San Antonio, but averaged 21.9 minutes per game in his 10 contests with Memphis, which would have been a career high. In those games, McCallum averaged 6.9 PPG and 2.7 APG, and shot 38.5% on three-pointers.
The Pistons, who used their cap room this month and then went over the cap to lock up Andre Drummond, still have their $2.9MM room exception available. However, McCallum will be signed using the minimum salary exception.
Pistons Interested In Kevin Martin?
- Free agent guard Kevin Martin has received some interest from the Clippers, Bulls, and Pistons, according to Amico. Chicago and Detroit both have fewer than 15 guaranteed contracts on their books, and still have their $2.9MM room exception available.
Details On Boban Marjanovic's Offer Sheet
- The Pistons‘ offer sheet for Boban Marjanovic was an Arenas-rule offer, with a modest spike in year three, according to Pincus. The Spurs didn’t have Marjanovic’s Early Bird rights or enough cap space to match, so Detroit got its man and was able to smooth out his cap hit to $7MM annually, as the Arenas rule permits.
[SOURCE LINK]
Pistons Notes: Baynes, Marjanovic, jack
- Aron Baynes is a popular subject of discussion in Keith Langlois’ latest mailbag at Pistons.com. Langlois also discusses the Pistons‘ signing of Boban Marjanovic, whether the club should have gone after Jarrett Jack, and several other topics.
Pistons Executive Hired As Spurs' Assistant GM
- Pistons executive Brian Wright will become the new assistant GM for the Spurs, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
Ex-Piston Meeks Undergoes Surgery
- Newly acquired Magic shooting guard Jodie Meeks is out indefinitely after undergoing foot surgery Tuesday, writes Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel. Meeks needed the procedure to stabilize the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, which he fractured early last season. Doctors offered little clue as to when Meeks might be able to play again. Orlando acquired him in a June 29th trade, sending a second-round pick to the Pistons in return.
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.