Hoops Rumors Originals

Checking In On The Designated Veteran Extension

July 24th, 2017 at 11:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the NBA and NBPA didn’t agree to make many significant changes to the league’s rules and regulations when they negotiated their most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, the new CBA did introduce a new wrinkle that allows star players to receive higher salaries.

The new Designated Veteran Extension allows players who meet a certain set of criteria to sign contracts with a starting salary of up to 35% of the cap instead of just 30%. These players generally have to make at least one All-NBA team, can’t change teams after signing their rookie extensions, and have between seven and nine years of NBA experience.

Designated Veteran Extensions couldn’t be signed until July 2017, so now that the new league year is underway and the new CBA has taken effect, we’re starting to get a sense of how these extensions will work. The sample size is still very small, but here’s what we know so far:

Three of four players eligible for Designated Veteran Extensions have signed them.

Having met the required criteria, Stephen Curry, James Harden, John Wall, and Russell Westbrook were the four players eligible this offseason for the new kind of contract. Curry inked his quickly, becoming the first player to do so as a free agent. He’ll receive a five-year contract starting in 2017/18 that will be worth more than $200MM.

Harden and Wall followed suit in recent weeks. Both players have two years remaining on their respective contracts, but were permitted to sign Designated Veteran Extensions that added four new years to their existing deals. We won’t know the precise value of those extensions until the salary cap is set for the 2019/20 league year, but they currently project to be worth upwards of $170MM over four years.

Westbrook is the lone holdout so far, but there has been no indication yet that he’s unwilling to sign an extension. Last summer, the MVP-to-be didn’t sign his new deal with the team until August. Westbrook has until opening night this year to re-up with the Thunder, and the club sounds confident that he’ll do so. If he does, that would mean all four DVE-eligible players would sign new extensions.

Multiple DVE candidates have been traded.

The Designated Veteran Extension has had an interesting side effect so far. Three players who were candidates to become eligible for a new super-max extension have been traded before getting a chance to gain that eligibility.

DeMarcus Cousins was the first to be dealt — he would have become eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension with the Kings if he’d earned an All-NBA nod this season, but was dealt to the Pelicans in February, eliminating the possibility for such a deal.

Meanwhile, last month, Jimmy Butler and Paul George were both traded despite the fact that they’d have become DVE-eligible in the summer of 2018 if they’d earned spots on one of next year’s All-NBA teams.

Not all of those players and teams were in exactly the same boat. George, for instance, seemed to want out of Indiana whether or not a Designated Veteran Extension would be on the table a year from now. However, Cousins and Butler seemed more invested in remaining with their current teams to see whether or not that opportunity at a super-max deal panned out.

In those instances, it’s possible that the Kings and Bulls were simply ready to rebuild, and decided the time was right to cash in on their stars. However, it’s worth considering whether the looming possibility of a Designated Veteran Extension played a part in those teams’ decisions. Unlike Curry, Westbrook, and Harden, players like Cousins and Butler aren’t perennial MVP candidates, so their teams may have been less eager to commit to a contract that paid $40MM+ annually.

For instance, had Cousins remained on the Kings and become eligible for a DVE this offseason, the franchise would have been in a tough spot — if the team was uncertain about committing that sort of money to Cousins and made a lesser offer, he may have viewed it as a sign of disrespect and demanded a trade, knowing that he wouldn’t be giving up a chance to max out his earnings since his current team was unwilling to give him that DVE. At that point, Sacramento’s trade leverage would have been reduced significantly.

It’s still too early to know exactly how the Designated Veteran Extension will affect player movement long-term, but based on the early returns, it appears it will work as intended for the very best players in the NBA, while perhaps further complicating the contract situations for the second- or third-tier stars.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Hoops Rumors’ 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker

July 24th, 2017 at 3:17pm CST by Luke Adams

With the 2017/18 NBA league year well underway, and news of contract agreements still coming in, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams this offseason. To that end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, years, salary, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect reported agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data.
Similarly, contract years and dollars will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in many cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Listed salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
A restricted free agent who agrees to or signs an offer sheet will be included in the tracker, but the team won’t be specified until his original club matches or passes on the offer sheet, in order to avoid confusion.
Two-way contracts and draft pick signings aren’t included in the tracker.
Click on a player’s name for our full report on his deal.
If you’re viewing the tracker on mobile, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2017 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Sports Bloggers, Hoops Links Are Back

July 23rd, 2017 at 9:27pm CST by Austin Kent

After a short hiatus during the opening weeks of free agency, our weekly Hoops Links series is finally returning. Expect the next installment this Thursday.

Now that the dust has started to settle on a wild offseason and we don’t have to worry about our writers getting distracted by pesky Paul George trades, we can all get back to focusing on what really matters: scouring the internet for funny analogies that bloggers have come up with.

Every week, we collect all of the best original content we find throughout the blogosphere and shine a spotlight on it here. It doesn’t matter if it’s serious or light-hearted, if it’s a comprehensive oral history about a key moment in NBA history or an open letter to Greg Oden’s former neck beard. If it’s an engaging, original story, it deserves to be shared.

To be included in Hoops Links Vol. 11, submit your best links to Austin Kent over Twitter (@AustinKent). You may or may not bribe him with rare images of Shareef Abdur-Rahim but be forewarned that such nefarious appeals to nostalgia are only 85% effective.

Take a look back at the highlights from the 2016/17 season:

Weekly Mailbag: 7/17/17 – 7/23/17

July 23rd, 2017 at 11:11am CST by Arthur Hill

We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:

What are the chances that Kyrie Irving is traded to the Heat? And what would that trade have to look like? — Reid Parrish

Miami is one of four preferred destinations [along with San Antonio, New York and Minnesota] that Irving submitted to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. Although Cleveland has no obligation to honor that list, it does bring the Heat into the conversation. Start with point guard Goran Dragic, whose $17MM salary for next season is close to Irving’s $18,868,625. Dragic is six years older than Irving and not on the same All-Star level, so Miami would have to sweeten the deal quite a bit. Justise Winslow is an obvious possibility, along with Josh Richardson or rookie Bam Adebayo. None of them moves the Cavs any closer to a title in what could be LeBron James‘ final season in Cleveland, so a third team would probably be necessary to get Irving to Miami.

What’s the most likely scenario for the Cavs with the turmoil going on? Will they still be strong enough to dethrone the Warriors with Irving gone? — Greg Dizon

There’s no way to tell until we know what they’re able to get back in an Irving trade, and we’re in the very early stages of that process. But this isn’t like the situation the Pacers faced with Paul George, where he was a year away from free agency and it was widely believed he plans to sign with the Lakers. Irving is under contract for two more seasons and has a player option for 2019/20. Whoever gets him will have an opportunity to keep him for the rest of his career, especially if it’s one of the teams on his list. So the Cavaliers should be able to get what they want in return, whether it’s veterans to make another run at a title or young players and picks to help them rebuild if LeBron James leaves next summer. That said, Cleveland is having an awful offseason so far, watching George and Jimmy Butler get traded elsewhere and settling for Jose Calderon and Jeff Green in free agency. With the Celtics signing Gordon Hayward, there’s no guarantee that the Cavs are headed to a fourth straight NBA Finals.

Since the end of their season, all members of the Mavericks’ front office (Mark Cuban, Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle) spoke of their view that Nerlens Noel was a part of their “young core,” suggesting that they would match any offer. Do you think the lack of an offer sheet has more to do with the assumption of the Mavs’ willingness to match or a true lack of interest? — Jonathan Dennis

Life is tough for restricted free agents. Most of the offer sheets they receive get matched, and teams don’t want to tie up resources on a fruitless effort in the middle of free agency. Look at what happened with the Nets and Otto Porter. They made a max offer of $106.5MM over four years on July 4th, which was a Tuesday. The offer sheet couldn’t be officially extended until the moratorium ended two days later. Despite announcing in advance that they planned to match any deal, the Wizards took almost the full 48 hours to reach an official decision, making their announcement on Saturday night. Porter then had two days to take his physical, and Washington had two days after that to send the results to the league. So the Nets didn’t have their resources freed up to complete the DeMarre Carroll deal until nine days after they made the offer to Porter. Things have slowed down now, but few teams have the cap space left to give Noel an offer that would make the Mavericks think twice. He’ll probably get a deal done soon, but he’ll have to decide if he wants to take a long-term contract on Dallas’ terms or sign for one year and try unrestricted free agency next summer.

Submit Your Questions For This Weekend’s Mailbag

July 22nd, 2017 at 10:00pm CST by Luke Adams

We at Hoops Rumors love interacting with our readers. This is why we provide an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our mailbag feature, which is posted on Sundays.

Have a question regarding trades, free agent rumors, the salary cap, the NBA draft, or the top storylines of the week? You can e-mail them here: hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, but please be mindful that we may receive a sizable number of questions and likely won’t get to all of them.

If you missed out on any past mailbags and would like to catch up, you can view the full archives here.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/15/17 – 7/22/17

July 22nd, 2017 at 3:55pm CST by Joshua Fischman

Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team compiles original content to complement our news feed. Here are some of our favorite segments and features from the past seven days:

This is Hoops Rumors’ 2017 NBA Free Agent Tracker.
Here is Hoops Rumors’ 2017/18 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker.
Luke Adams explores Andrew Wiggins‘ candidacy for a contract extension.
Adams rounded up a summary of NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2017/18.
This is how teams are using their 2017/18 Bi-Annual Exceptions.
These are the 2017 NBA Draft-And-Stash Signings.
Arthur Hill discussed the logistics of extending Isaiah Thomas to a max contract, the implications of exceeding the salary cap, and Carmelo Anthony‘s predicament in his weekly Sunday mailbag. Submit your questions via Twitter (@HoopsRumors) or by sending us an email (hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com).
Check out our free Trade Rumors app available for IOS and Android.
Here are the questions we asked you in our Community Shootaround discussions and polls this week:
- Should the Trail Blazers make a trade for Carmelo Anthony?
- Will LeBron James remain on the Cavaliers beyond this season?
- What fate do you expect awaits the remaining restricted free agents?
- How do Kyrie Irving‘s 2017 and Kobe Bryant‘s 2007 trade requests compare and contrast?
- Where should Derrick Rose sign?

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Hoops Rumors Originals

Poll: Where Should Derrick Rose Sign?

July 22nd, 2017 at 1:10pm CST by Joshua Fischman

Former first overall draft pick and the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose is nowhere near the player he used to be thanks to a litany of devastating leg injuries. However, he is coming off a productive offensive season and is easily the most coveted unrestricted free agent on the market.

Rose averaged 18.0 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 3.8 RPG last season with the Knicks, while shooting 47.1% from the field. The point guard also logged 32.5 minutes per his 64 contests, the most playing time he has had in the past four seasons. Despite Rose’s solid season, the rebuilding Knicks appear unlikely to bring him back.

Reports suggest that the leaders for Pooh’s services are the Cavaliers and Lakers. Cleveland will meet with Rose in the coming days and reportedly are offering him a starting position, either alongside Kyrie Irving or in Irving’s place if Cleveland’s point guard is traded. As for the Lakers, Rose had an approximately three-hour meeting with the purple and gold and reports indicate that the meeting went well for both sides. While it is unclear whether Rose would start for the Lake Show, he would be expected to mentor rookie Lonzo Ball on a much improved team.

Two other squads that have met with Rose in recent weeks are the Bucks and Clippers. The Bucks could appeal to Rose’s desire to win, boasting several rising stars in Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Jabari Parker. Milwaukee is also coached by legendary point guard Jason Kidd and is situated very close to Chicago, where the family-minded Rose’s family resides. The Clippers already have Patrick Beverley and Milos Teodosic at point guard, as well as Austin Rivers, who is more of a combo guard, but when replacing Chris Paul, can a team ever really do too much?

What do you think? Where should Rose end up signing? Place your vote in our poll and then catapult into the comments section below to share your thoughts.

Community Shootaround: Kyrie And Kobe’s Trade Requests

July 22nd, 2017 at 11:51am CST by marksuleymanov

A bombshell report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst yesterday revealed that Cavaliers superstar point guard, Kyrie Irving, met with team officials recently and expressed his desire to be traded. Subsequent reports have indicated Irving’s request steams from his preference to be the focal point of a team’s offense and escaping LeBron James‘ towering shadow.

It was shocking news that resonated throughout the NBA; James can be included among those surprised by Irving’s request as Windhorst noted that the four-time MVP was “devastated” to hear his teammate wants out (via Twitter). Since James returned home to Cleveland in 2014, he has taken the reigns both on and off the court, as he’s reportedly been a key influence over the Cavs’ roster moves. In Irving’s case, however, James has elected to defer to the Cavaliers and operate under their discrection, per USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt (via Twitter).

While the Spurs have been named as Irving’s preferred destination, the former Rookie of the Year also listed the Heat, Timberwolves, and Knicks as potential destinations. Yet, without a no-trade clause, Irving has no say over where Cleveland can trade him. Still, the 25-year-old could command a kings ransom on the trade market and Cleveland figures to at least keep one ear open.

Irving’s request has evoked memories of when Kobe Bryant demanded a trade from the Lakers during the 2007 offseason. The Lakers legend, speaking to Stephen A. Smith on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York, made it clear he wanted out of the situation.

“I would like to be traded, yeah,” Bryant said. “Tough as it is to come to that conclusion there’s no other alternative, you know?” In the same interview, Smith pressed Bryant on if anything could change his mind, to which he response was a flat “no.”

“I just want them to do the right thing,” Bryant added.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweeted that Bryant asked for a trade in May 2007, it never happened, and he went on to appear in three NBA Finals (winning two). However, Irving and Bryant’s situations are completely different: Bryant wanted to win and the Lakers were off back-to-back poor seasons where he had to average over 30 PPG to keep the Lakers competitive; Irving has been to three straight NBA Finals (winning one) and would be on another championship contender if he stays in Cleveland.

However, Irving has become a secondary figure to James and despite their collective success, Irving clearly wants the same credit and responsibility. In Bryant’s case, he was already the key player; the Lakers acquiesced to Bryant’s demands and upgraded the team into a multiple-time NBA champion.

That brings up several pertinent questions: Does Irving’s request make sense for both him and the team? Can Bryant’s frustration over a poor team in 2007 compare to Irving wanting to leave a championship contender in 2017? Do any of Irving’s preferred destinations make sense for his future? Are there any moves the Cavaliers can make to keep everybody happy?

Extension Candidate: Andrew Wiggins

July 21st, 2017 at 8:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Three weeks into the 2017/18 NBA league year, no players eligible for rookie scale extensions have signed new deals. However, that doesn’t mean that none of those fourth-year players are engaged in negotiations with their respective teams.

Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau confirmed this week that Minnesota is indeed working on a new contract for Andrew Wiggins, who is one of those 21 players eligible for a rookie scale extension. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2014 draft and a former Rookie of the Year, Wiggins has easily been the highest-scoring player of his draft class since entering the NBA, and is one of the most worthy candidates for a new deal.

While Wiggins is a good bet to sign a contract extension with Minnesota this offseason, the length and overall value of that new deal remain up in the air. Reports this week from The Star Tribune and ESPN rightly note that Wiggins is eligible for a five-year extension worth just shy of $148MM, based on current salary cap projections for the 2018/19 season. However, it’s not clear if Thibodeau himself confirmed that a five-year deal is the probable outcome.

Neither the Star Tribune nor the ESPN report cites any sources saying that the two sides are discussing a five-year deal, and there are no quotes from Thibodeau suggesting as much. ESPN’s report doesn’t even include a byline. Still, while it’s possible that it’s just speculation, the Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda is very plugged in on the Wolves, so if he suggests a five-year extension is in play, it’s certainly been considered by the organization.

If a team wants to sign a player entering the final year of his rookie contract to a five-year extension, that means making him a “Designated Player” and offering him a maximum salary deal. There’s some wiggle room in regard to what constitutes a “maximum” salary for Wiggins — language could be included in the contract that ensures he receives a max worth up to 30% of the cap starting in 2018/19 if he makes an All-NBA team, as opposed to 25% if he doesn’t. But even if Wiggins doesn’t earn All-NBA honors, a max deal would still start at a projected $25.5MM in ’18/19, increasing by 8% annually up to $33.66MM by 2022/23.

That would be a massive investment for a Timberwolves team that also has to consider Karl-Anthony Towns‘ impending payday. And while it’s possible that the franchise will ultimately be willing to roll the dice on that sort of five-year max for Wiggins, I don’t think it’s a lock.

Star players who receive five-year maximum salary rookie scale extensions from their teams often complete those deals very quickly when the new league year gets underway. In recent offseasons, Kyrie Irving (2014), Anthony Davis (2015), and Damian Lillard (2015) all agreed to max extensions before the July moratorium came to an end. If a maximum salary offer is on the table, little negotiating is required, and those deals generally don’t take long to finalize.

Additionally, it’s worth considering that 2016’s rookie scale extension class didn’t include a single five-year, maximum salary deal. C.J. McCollum, Steven Adams, and Rudy Gobert were among the candidates for max extensions who ended up accepting a little less. Most notably, Giannis Antetokounmpo signed a four-year, $100MM contract that fell short of the max. Antetokounmpo is only two months older than Wiggins and is a far more complete player at this point in his career, so the Wolves’ front office may use that deal as a point of comparison in negotiations with Wiggins.

Conversely, Wiggins’ camp should be able to make a pretty strong case that he’s worth a maximum salary investment. Few young players in the NBA are as talented on offense as Wiggins, who has increased his PPG from 16.9 to 20.7 to 23.6 over the course of his three NBA seasons. He even added a more reliable three-point shot to his arsenal in 2016/17, making a respectable 35.6% of his long-distance attempts.

Of course, as good as Wiggins is on offense, his performance in many other areas of the game has been lacking. In particular, his play on defense last season was frustrating — the Timberwolves’ defensive efficiency numbers with Wiggins on the court were substantially worse, and the eye test confirmed that the former No. 1 pick was getting beat far too often.

Additionally, while Wiggins is hardly expected to be the Wolves’ top distributor or rebounder, his lack of production in both areas was noticeable. No player in the NBA played more overall minutes last season than Wiggins, but his 4.0 RPG average was modest for a 6’8″ forward, and his career-high 2.3 APG average was also low for a player with the ball in his hands so often.

Although Wiggins has been a fairly one-dimensional player through the first three years of his career, his offensive ability and his age are both significant factors working in his favor. Even if he never develops into an above-average defender, he looks capable of averaging 25+ PPG, and there simply aren’t many players in the NBA who have the ability to score like that night in and night out.

Wiggins’ age, meanwhile, suggests that his best is yet to come, and a contract extension with the Wolves figures to cover many of his prime years. Wiggins’ new teammate Jimmy Butler serves as a tantalizing point of comparison for the 22-year-old. When he was Wiggins’ age, Butler was in the midst of struggling through a rookie season in which he only played 359 total minutes.

Butler, who didn’t enter the league as fully formed on offense as Wiggins, also didn’t post great rebounding or assist numbers right away — in his first season as a full-time starter, the ex-Bulls forward averaged 4.9 RPG and 2.6 APG in 38.7 MPG. By comparison, last season, in fewer minutes per game, Butler posted 6.2 RPG and 5.5 APG to go along with impressive production on both offense and defense.

Not all players develop like Butler did, but Wiggins has the advantage of working with the same coach the three-time All-Star played under for several seasons. If Thibodeau’s defensive-minded approach rubs off on Wiggins, he’s capable of becoming one of the game’s elite players and earning every dollar of a maximum salary extension.

Right now though, that sort of commitment would have to be made with confidence in Wiggins’ ability to develop into a more complete all-around player, since the current version of the young forward probably isn’t worth a max investment.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

2017/18 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker

July 21st, 2017 at 10:23am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s latest Collective Bargaining Agreement introduced a new type of contract the league’s lexicon: the two-way deal.

As we explain in depth in our FAQ, two-way contracts allow NBA teams to carry two extra players in addition to the 15 on their regular season roster. These players spend most of their time with the club’s G League affiliate, but are eligible to join the NBA roster for up to 45 days per season, and remain under team control — they can’t be poached by rival franchises.

Over the last several weeks, many teams have been making use of this new kind of contract by securing players to two-way deals, locking up their rights for the next one or two seasons. Not every team has made a two-way signing so far, but by the time the NBA regular season gets underway, we’ll likely see 60 players around the league on two-way contracts.

With several two-way signings already completed, and many more to follow, we’ll use the space below to track each team’s two-way players for the 2017/18 season. If a signing hasn’t been officially announced as a two-way contract, but has been reported as such, we’ll make a note of that, and update the info as necessary. Players whose two-way contracts are for two years (the maximum), are noted with an asterisk.

This tracker will continue to be updated throughout the 2017/18 league year, and can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar.

Here are 2017/18’s two-way players:

Updated 6-22-18