Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Denver Nuggets
Even if Darrell Arthur opts out of his contract, the Nuggets will have just three unrestricted free agents from this year’s roster – Arthur, D.J. Augustin, and Mike Miller – and none of them are crucial, long-term pieces. That leaves Denver with 12 contracts (nine guaranteed) on its books for 2016/17 and no glaring holes to fill, but there’s still plenty of room for the club to get involved in free agency if opportunities arise.
The Nuggets’ three highest-paid players, Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler, missed some – or all – of the 2015/16 campaign with injuries, and it’s unlikely that any of them would be the No. 1 option on a legit contender. But those aren’t albatross contracts, and there are multiple solid values elsewhere on the Nuggets’ roster, including promising young guard Emmanuel Mudiay and inexpensive wing Will Barton. With three top-20 picks in hand, Denver is in good position to continue adding young, affordable players to its roster.
See how Denver’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Danilo Gallinari ($15,050,000)
- Kenneth Faried ($12,078,652)
- Wilson Chandler ($11,233,146)
- Jameer Nelson ($4,540,525)
- Will Barton ($3,533,333)
- Emmanuel Mudiay ($3,241,800)
- Jusuf Nurkic ($1,921,320)
- Gary Harris ($1,655,880)
- Nikola Jokic ($1,358,500)
- (Nick Johnson $980,431)
- Total: $55,593,587
Player Options
- Darrell Arthur ($2,940,630)
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Joffrey Lauvergne ($1,709,719)
- JaKarr Sampson ($980,431)
- Axel Toupane ($874,636)
- Total: $3,564,786
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- D.J. Augustin ($3,900,000)
- Mike Miller ($980,431)
- Total: $4,880,431
Other Cap Holds
- No. 7 pick ($2,675,700)
- No. 15 pick ($1,656,200)
- No. 19 pick ($1,356,100)
- Total: $5,688,000
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Poll: 2016 Community Mock Draft (Pick No. 12)
The results of the 2016 NBA Draft lottery are in and the Sixers finally landed the elusive No. 1 overall pick after missing out the past two seasons. Now that the exact draft order is locked in, teams can begin targeting specific players who are likely to still be on the board when it is their time to choose. Drafting players is far from an exact science, and many a GM has been second-guessed for his draft night decisions. I’m willing to bet that every team executive has at least one pick that he would like a mulligan for. We at Hoops Rumors thought it would be fun to give our readers the chance to predict the results of this June’s draft, which is what we intend to do with a series of polls.
We’ll continue on with the Jazz. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Utah’s pick and check back Saturday for the results, as well as to cast your vote for who the Suns will select with the No. 13 overall pick. But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the No. 12 overall pick and why you voted the way that you did.
Previous Selections
- Sixers — Ben Simmons (LSU)
- Lakers — Brandon Ingram (Duke)
- Celtics — Dragan Bender (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
- Suns — Jaylen Brown (California)
- Timberwolves — Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
- Pelicans — Kris Dunn (Providence)
- Nuggets — Jamal Murray (Kentucky)
- Kings — Henry Ellenson (Marquette)
- Raptors — Marquese Chriss (Washington)
- Bucks — Jakob Poeltl (Utah)
- Magic — Skal Labissiere (Kentucky)
NBA Player Option Decisions For 2016/17
Twenty-nine NBA veterans have player options on their contracts for 2016/17, but few – if any – are expected to actually exercise those options and play out their current deals. With so much salary cap space available around the NBA this summer, it makes more sense for most of these players to opt out and explore the market, since – barring a huge dropoff or a major injury – they’re unlikely to be offered less money than they’d been set to earn via their options.
Still, not every decision is a lock. For instance, a player like Mo Williams, who battled injuries this season and wasn’t always a part of the Cavaliers’ rotation even when healthy, may be inclined to exercise his option, worth about $2.2MM.
While most players don’t have to make decisions on their options until later in June, some early deadlines have passed, and other decisions have already been reported. We’ve made note of those decisions below, and will continue to pass them along in this space over the next several weeks.
Here’s a breakdown of the decisions on 2016/17 NBA player options:
Point Guards
- Seth Curry, Kings ($1,015,696): Opted out
- Shane Larkin, Nets ($1,500,000): Opted out
- Jeremy Lin, Hornets ($2,235,255): Opted out
- Deron Williams, Mavericks ($5,621,026): Opted out
- Mo Williams, Cavaliers ($2,194,500): Opted in
Shooting Guards
- Arron Afflalo, Knicks ($8,000,000): Opted out
- James Anderson, Kings ($1,139,123): Opted out
- DeMar DeRozan, Raptors ($10,350,000): Opted out
- Wayne Ellington, Nets ($1,567,500): Opted out
- Manu Ginobili, Spurs ($2,940,630): Opted out
- Wesley Johnson, Clippers ($1,227,286): Opted out
- Austin Rivers, Clippers ($3,344,106): Opted out
- J.R. Smith, Cavaliers ($5,375,000): Opted out
Small Forwards
- Caron Butler, Kings ($1,551,659): Opted in
- Alonzo Gee, Pelicans ($1,379,400): Opted out
- LeBron James, Cavaliers ($24,004,173): Opted out
- Chandler Parsons, Mavericks ($16,023,000): Opted out
- Derrick Williams, Knicks ($4,598,000): Opted out
Power Forwards
- Quincy Acy, Kings ($1,050,961): Opted out
- Darrell Arthur, Nuggets ($2,940,630): Opted out
- Brandon Bass, Lakers ($3,135,000): Opted out
- Tim Duncan, Spurs ($6,393,750): Opted in
- Pau Gasol, Bulls ($7,769,520): Opted out
- Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks ($8,692,184): Opted out
- Thomas Robinson, Nets ($1,050,961): Opted out
- David West, Spurs ($1,551,659): Opted out
Centers
- Cole Aldrich, Clippers ($1,227,286): Opted out
- Bismack Biyombo, Raptors ($2,940,630): Opted out
- Dwight Howard, Rockets ($23,282,457): Opted out
Offseason Salary Cap Digest: New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans’ 2015/16 season was derailed by injuries, to the point that the team finished the season carrying 18 players on its roster due to multiple hardship exemptions granted by the NBA. Many of those injured players were among the club’s highest-paid veterans, but with at least one big contract (Eric Gordon) coming off the books, and a couple more (Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans) entering their final year, New Orleans should gain a little flexibility this offseason.
There’s still plenty of guaranteed salary on the Pelicans’ books for 2016/17, even before taking into account unrestricted free agents like Gordon and Ryan Anderson, but those salary commitments don’t look quite as restrictive with the cap on the rise. The team also caught a break when Anthony Davis failed to make an All-NBA team, limiting his maximum salaries over the next few years. With Davis locked up through 2021, the Pelicans can afford to exercise a little patience in building their roster around him, rather than rushing to add veteran help in hopes of convincing him to stay in New Orleans.
See how New Orleans’ cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Anthony Davis ($21,597,000)1
- Jrue Holiday ($11,286,518)
- Tyreke Evans ($10,203,755)
- Omer Asik ($9,904,494)
- Alexis Ajinca ($4,638,203)
- Quincy Pondexter ($3,617,978)
- Dante Cunningham ($2,978,250)
- Luke Babbitt ($200,000) — Partial guarantee; non-guaranteed portion listed below2
- Total: $64,426,198
Player Options
- Alonzo Gee ($1,379,400)
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Toney Douglas ($1,315,448)
- Luke Babbitt ($1,027,286) — Partial guarantee; guaranteed portion listed above2
- Bryce Dejean-Jones ($874,636)3
- Total: $3,217,370
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- James Ennis ($1,180,431/$1,180,431)
- Tim Frazier ($1,180,431/$1,180,431)
- Totals: ($2,360,862/$2,360,862)
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Eric Gordon ($23,271,047)
- Ryan Anderson ($12,750,000)
- Norris Cole ($5,770,163)
- Jordan Hamilton ($980,431)
- Kendrick Perkins ($980,431)
- Total: $43,752,072
Other Cap Holds
- No. 6 pick ($2,931,000)
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
Footnotes:
- Davis’ exact salary on his max contract won’t be determined until July. This figure represents an estimation.
- Babbitt’s full $1,227,286 salary would become guaranteed on July 12th.
- Dejean-Jones died in May, but his contract will remain on the Pelicans’ books until the team makes a roster move.
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag
In addition to our weekly chat, we have a second opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in our weekly mailbag feature, which is posted every Sunday.
Have a question regarding player movement, 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 might not 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.
Poll: 2016 Community Mock Draft (Pick No. 11)
The results of the 2016 NBA Draft lottery are in and the Sixers finally landed the elusive No. 1 overall pick after missing out the past two seasons. Now that the exact draft order is locked in, teams can begin targeting specific players who are likely to still be on the board when it is their time to choose. Drafting players is far from an exact science, and many a GM has been second-guessed for his draft night decisions. I’m willing to bet that every team executive has at least one pick that he would like a mulligan for. We at Hoops Rumors thought it would be fun to give our readers the chance to predict the results of this June’s draft, which is what we intend to do with a series of polls.
We’ll continue on with the Magic, who could stand to add some frontcourt depth and backcourt scoring. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Orlando’s pick and check back Friday for the results, as well as to cast your vote for who the Jazz will select with the No. 12 overall pick. But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the No. 11 overall pick and why you voted the way that you did.
Previous Selections
- Sixers — Ben Simmons (LSU)
- Lakers — Brandon Ingram (Duke)
- Celtics — Dragan Bender (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
- Suns — Jaylen Brown (California)
- Timberwolves — Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
- Pelicans — Kris Dunn (Providence)
- Nuggets — Jamal Murray (Kentucky)
- Kings — Henry Ellenson (Marquette)
- Raptors — Marquese Chriss (Washington)
- Bucks — Jakob Poeltl (Utah)
2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Suns
The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue on with the Phoenix Suns, whose D-League affiliate is the Bakersfield Jam:
The Suns made just one assignment for the 2015/16 season, sending one player to the D-League for a total of seven days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Phoenix for the 2015/16 campaign:
February 10th: Assigned Jordan McRae (1st) — Recalled February 16th
Here’s how Phoenix’s players performed in the D-League this season:
- Jordan McRae: He appeared in a total of 29 D-League games this season and averaged 23.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 35.4 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .459/.318/.799.
Poll: 2016 Community Mock Draft (Pick No. 10)
The results of the 2016 NBA Draft lottery are in and the Sixers finally landed the elusive No. 1 overall pick after missing out the past two seasons. Now that the exact draft order is locked in, teams can begin targeting specific players who are likely to still be on the board when it is their time to choose. Drafting players is far from an exact science, and many a GM has been second-guessed for his draft night decisions. I’m willing to bet that every team executive has at least one pick that he would like a mulligan for. We at Hoops Rumors thought it would be fun to give our readers the chance to predict the results of this June’s draft, which is what we intend to do with a series of polls.
We’ll continue on with the Bucks, who could stand to add some athleticism and outside shooting to their roster. Readers, you are now on the clock! Cast your vote for Milwaukee’s pick and check back Thursday for the results, as well as to cast your vote for who the Magic will select with the No. 11 overall pick. But don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the No. 10 overall pick and why you voted the way that you did.
Previous Selections
- Sixers — Ben Simmons (LSU)
- Lakers — Brandon Ingram (Duke)
- Celtics — Dragan Bender (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
- Suns — Jaylen Brown (California)
- Timberwolves — Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
- Pelicans — Kris Dunn (Providence)
- Nuggets — Jamal Murray (Kentucky)
- Kings — Henry Ellenson (Marquette)
- Raptors — Marquese Chriss (Washington)
Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves are in an enviable position. With the rookie contracts for Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns not set to expire until 2018 and 2019 respectively, the team has at least a couple more years to complement its young stars with higher-priced veterans, before Wiggins and Towns get expensive themselves. If Minnesota keeps its No. 5 overall pick and adds another talented rookie to its core, the Wolves would have committed about $65MM to 12 players for 2016/17. That leaves the club plenty of room to go out and make a splash – or two – in free agency, but also creates no pressure to do so.
Depending on how close the Wolves feel they are to contention and how many chips they want to shove into the pot in the short term, there are a handful of ways Minnesota could approach the offseason, and as long as Wiggins and Towns stay healthy and continue to develop, the franchise should have some margin for error.
See how Minnesota’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.
Guaranteed Salary
- Ricky Rubio ($13,400,000)
- Nikola Pekovic ($12,100,000)
- Kevin Garnett ($8,000,000)
- Andrew Wiggins ($6,006,600)
- Karl-Anthony Towns ($5,960,160)
- Nemanja Bjelica ($3,800,000)
- Shabazz Muhammad ($3,046,299)
- Gorgui Dieng ($2,348,783)
- Zach LaVine ($2,240,880)
- Adreian Payne ($2,022,240)
- (Kevin Martin $1,380,305) — Salary remaining from release via stretch provision
- Tyus Jones ($1,339,680)
- Total: $61,644,947
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Damjan Rudez ($1,199,000)
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Greg Smith ($1,139,123)
Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)
- Tayshaun Prince ($980,431)
Other Cap Holds
- No. 5 pick ($3,227,100)
- Justin Hamilton ($980,431)
- Robbie Hummel ($980,431)
- Othyus Jeffers ($980,431)
- Arinze Onuaku ($980,431)
- Total: $7,148,824
Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Community Shootaround: 2016 NBA Finals
The 2016 NBA Finals are set to get underway on Thursday, and despite some drama in recent weeks, particularly in the Western Conference, this year’s matchup is a repeat of last year’s NBA Finals, with the Warriors looking to defeat the Cavaliers for a second consecutive championship.
After setting an NBA regular-season record with 73 wins, the Warriors are the odds-on favorites to win the title. FiveThirtyEight.com currently gives Golden State a 69% chance to take the series, and those odds are about in line with those provided by Las Vegas line-makers (Twitter link), who have installed the Cavaliers as about 2-to-1 underdogs.
The Warriors are led by Stephen Curry, unanimously voted this season’s MVP, and Klay Thompson, who has looked like one of the league’s top players during the postseason, racking up an incredible 77 three-pointers so far (J.R. Smith is second, with 49). After eliminating the Rockets and Trail Blazers without Curry at full health, the Warriors stormed back from a 3-1 deficit against a very talented Oklahoma City team, and certainly look poised to repeat as champs.
Still, this Cavaliers team isn’t the same one Golden State dispatched in the 2015 Finals. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are fully healthy this time around, and outside of a brief hiccup in Toronto during the Eastern Conference Finals, Cleveland has looked unstoppable so far in the playoffs. The Pistons, Hawks, and Raptors aren’t exactly a murderer’s row of postseason opponents, but the Cavs did what they were supposed to in those series, winning 12 of 14 games, and could be peaking at the right time.
“We’re better built to start the Finals than we were last year,” LeBron James said on Tuesday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. “Doesn’t matter who it’s against. I mean, that’s not a headline. It’s obvious.”
Today’s topic is pretty straightforward: Who will win the NBA Finals? Does this version of the Cavaliers have a legit chance to pull off the upset, or are the Warriors simply too talented to let their record-setting season end with a loss in the Finals?
Cast your vote in our poll, and weigh in below in the comments section to share your predictions for the series!