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Financial Impact Of Deadline, Buyouts: Pacific

February 26th, 2016 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The effects of the trade deadline are still being felt around the NBA as teams work buyout deals, negotiate with new free agents and fill open roster spots. Hoops Rumors will be taking a team-by-team look at the financial ramifications not just of the deadline itself but of the post-deadline moves. After beginning earlier with a look at the Southwest Division, we’ll continue with the Pacific Division:

Clippers

The trade of Lance Stephenson for Jeff Green was fairly even in terms of raw salary, but the Clippers absorbed a projected tax hit that magnifies the $450K difference between Green’s salary and Stephenson’s. L.A. is more than $10MM over the $84.74MM tax threshold, so that $450K will cost two and a half times that amount in additional taxes, unless the Clips find some altogether unlikely means of trimming salary by the final day of the regular season. Thus, the trade represents an investment of an additional $1.575MM in combined payroll and taxes. Rookie Alex Stepheson‘s 10-day contract also costs, at the rate of $30,888 in salary and $139,305 in tax penalties on top of it, but even though the tax penalty would be the same for anyone else on a 10-day deal, his salary is $24,834 less than if the team had signed a long-tenured veteran, as it did earlier with Jeff Ayres.

Suns

The Suns earned some well-deserved praise for snagging a first-round pick in the trade that sent Markieff Morris to the Wizards, but they also reaped some financial flexibility that allowed them to pick up an intriguing asset after the trade. Phoenix created a $1.56MM trade exception for the difference between the $8MM salary of Morris and the combined $6.44MM that Kris Humphries ($4.44MM) and DeJuan Blair ($2MM) make. The Suns used that exception to claim John Jenkins off waivers from the Mavericks, thus snagging a former No. 23 pick who has a favorable contract and averaged 19.7 points per game in the preseason this past fall. Jenkins has two years left on his contract after this season, and both call for non-guaranteed minimum salaries, meaning he has no long-term cost if he doesn’t pan out and a low cost if he does. Phoenix also signed Phil Pressey to a 10-day contract worth $55,722, but the Suns still have a lower payroll for this season than they did before the deadline. They also erased $7.4MM from next year’s guaranteed salary commitments and a combined $16.6MM for the two seasons after that, since Humphries and Blair are on de facto expiring contracts. That made it palatable for the Suns to eat the rest of Blair’s salary for this season when they waived him.

Warriors

Golden State dared to tinker with a roster that’s in the midst of the most successful season in NBA history so far, waiving little-used Jason Thompson to make room for a prorated minimum-salary contract for Anderson Varejao. That Varejao deal costs $289,755 in salary and $724,388 in projected tax penalties, so it represents an investment of more than $1MM. The Warriors nonetheless minimized the effects on next year’s payroll with the use of the stretch provision. It was much too late to stretch any of Thompson’s nearly $6.909MM salary for this season, but Golden State turned the $2.65MM partial guarantee on his 2016/17 pay into equal $883,333 installments for each of the next three seasons. That drops Golden State’s guaranteed salary commitments for the summer ahead from close to $74.752MM to about $72.985MM, an incremental difference that could nonetheless be meaningful to the team’s pursuit of Kevin Durant.

Kings

Sacramento, despite no shortage of rumors, didn’t make any roster moves in February, though Caron Butler is reportedly a buyout candidate.

Lakers

Like the Kings, the Lakers have stood pat so far through the deadline and buyout season.

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Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 2/24/16

February 25th, 2016 at 12:00am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Grizzlies’ season was dealt a crushing blow with the news that Marc Gasol would miss the rest of the campaign after undergoing surgery to repair his broken right foot this past Saturday. In addition to potentially derailing any realistic notion the team had about competing for an NBA title in 2015/16, the injury to Gasol could also spell the end of point guard Mike Conley‘s tenure in Memphis.

Conley is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and any potential long term impact to Gasol’s health and productivity could nudge the point guard toward another franchise come July. While the Grizzlies remain publicly optimistic that Gasol will make a full recovery and be ready for the start of the 2016/17 season, a physical therapist who is well-versed in the recovery process the big man will undergo told Peter Edmiston of The Commercial Appeal that there is less than a 10% chance that the Spaniard will return to his pre-injury form. Only time will tell if Gasol will be the player we are used to seeing when he makes his way back, but this offseason will likely be Conley’s last chance at a significant long-term payday. He may decide that risking his last remaining peak seasons on the durability of Gasol’s right foot isn’t the smart play and bolt for what he perceives to be greener pastures.

That brings me to the question/topic for today: What impact, if any, will Marc Gasol’s injury have on Mike Conley’s upcoming free agency?

Take to the comments section to share your thoughts, predictions and potential doomsday scenarios for what Gasol’s injury potentially does to the Grizzlies’ chances of retaining Conley. We look forward to what you have to say.

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2015/16 Salary Cap Update: Boston Celtics

February 24th, 2016 at 8:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 is set at $70MM, which is good for an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. With the February 18th cutoff date for trades now past and the de facto deadline of March 1st for buyouts rapidly approaching, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of updating the salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the Boston Celtics, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:

  • 2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
  • 2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
  • Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $77,098,629*
  • Remaining Cap Room= -$7,098,629
  • Amount Below Luxury Tax Line= $7,641,371

*Note: This amount includes the $1,706,250 owed to Zoran Dragic, who was waived by the team, the $2,038,206 owned to Perry Jones III, who was also waived and the $25K each owed to Levi Randolph, Corey Walden and Malcolm Miller, who were waived. This amount also reflects David Lee‘s salary of $15,035,105, who was waived as part of a buyout arrangement.

Cap Exceptions Available:

  • Room Exception= $2,814,000

Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,400,000

Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $300,000

Note: Despite the trade deadline having passed, the NBA season technically doesn’t end until June 30th. Teams are able to again make trades upon the completion of the regular season or when/if they are eliminated from the playoffs, whichever comes later. So these cash limits still apply.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Submit Your Questions For Hoops Rumors Mailbag

February 24th, 2016 at 5:38pm CST by Eddie Scarito

In addition to our regular weekly chat, which Chuck Myron facilitates every Wednesday, 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.

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Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript

February 24th, 2016 at 4:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:04pm: We hosted the weekly live chat.

3:00pm: This year’s trade deadline wasn’t the bonanza that last year’s was, but 16 players still wound up changing teams, and three more almost did. Monday’s nullification of the Donatas Motiejunas trade sent Joel Anthony back to Detroit and Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton, not to mention a tax burden, back to Houston. The Sixers lost JaKarr Sampson to the Nuggets amid the shuffle, created when the Pistons didn’t like what they saw from Motiejunas’ physical exam. Health has played a key role in the NBA landscape this week, with confirmation coming that Marc Gasol is done for the year and conflicting reports about whether the Heat are encouraging the ailing Chris Bosh to join Gasol on the sidelines. That gives us plenty to talk about in this week’s chat.

 

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Financial Impact Of Deadline, Buyouts: Southwest

February 24th, 2016 at 12:17pm CST by Chuck Myron

The effects of the trade deadline are still being felt around the NBA as teams work buyout deals, negotiate with new free agents and fill open roster spots. Hoops Rumors will be taking a team-by-team look at the financial ramifications not just of the deadline itself but of the post-deadline moves. We’ll start this series of posts today with the Southwest Division:

Grizzlies

  • Memphis gave up Courtney Lee, Jeff Green and $542,714 cash in two separate trades to bring back Lance Stephenson, P.J. Hairston, Chris Andersen and five future draft picks. None of the players they relinquished nor any they acquired have guaranteed salary for next season, so the deals don’t affect the ledger for 2016/17 at all, beyond the opportunity to pick up a $9.405MM team option on Stephenson. The net effect on this season’s payroll was the addition of a miniscule $76,440, which still leaves the Grizzlies about $2MM shy of the tax line, enough breathing room to make minimum-salary signings if they want. Memphis also gained a $450K trade exception from the difference between Green’s $9.45MM salary and Stephenson’s $9MM pay. The cash they sent to the Hornets in the Lee trade compromises their flexibility to a slight degree come draft time, when many teams swap cash for second-rounders. They’ll have $2,857,286 instead of $3.4MM to send out in those sorts of trades, though the picks they acquired last week give the team plenty of draft assets.

Mavericks

  • The Mavs didn’t make a trade, but they dabbled in the buyout market, signing David Lee the day after he came off waivers from the Celtics. Dallas reportedly used the prorated room exception on Lee, so assuming he gets the full amount left on the exception, Lee is making $2,085,671. The exception, originally worth $2.814MM, prorates by 1/170th each day starting January 10th. Dallas waived John Jenkins to make room for Lee on the roster, but the Suns claimed him and his guaranteed minimum salary of $981,349 off waivers. Jenkins has non-guaranteed salaries on his contract for next season and 2017/18, so even if Jenkins had cleared waivers, it wouldn’t have affected the Mavs’ long-term accounting. Instead, they merely hike this season’s payroll by the amount of Lee’s salary, minus Jenkins’ $981,349 pay, but since they were only at about $72MM anyway, well shy of the $84.74MM tax threshold, the team is in no financial danger.

Pelicans

  • New Orleans essentially converted a trade exception into cash that they used to fund a partial guarantee for next season in their new contract with Bryce Dejean-Jones. As Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders pointed out, the Pelicans used the $947,276 trade exception they created when they traded Ish Smith to the Sixers in December to accommodate Jarnell Stokes, whom the Heat dealt Thursday to New Orleans. The Pelicans also received $721,300 cash from Miami in the Stokes trade, Pincus notes, and the only asset New Orleans relinquished was a top-55 protected second-round pick that will likely never change hands, making it the virtual equivalent of a phony asset. New Orleans waived Stokes shortly after the trade to reopen the roster spot that Dejean-Jones had been in while he was on his pair of 10-day contracts. Dejean-Jones apparently had talks with at least five other NBA teams before the Pelicans lured him back with the partial guarantee he was reportedly seeking. It’s unclear just how much that guarantee is worth, but it goes on next season’s ledger, while Jones’ salary for the rest of this season and Stokes’ full-season pay of $845,059 is on the cap for New Orleans this year, even though the Pelicans will actually pay only a prorated percentage of what Stokes is making. The Pelicans are still about $4MM shy of the tax line, which leaves plenty of room.

Rockets

  • The Rockets would have escaped the luxury tax, added about $3.2MM of room beneath their hard cap and created a pair of trade exceptions if their three-team trade with the Pistons and Grizzlies had gone through. The voiding of the deal leaves Houston with none of that. The team’s net cost of the trade falling through is about $8MM in payroll and projected tax obligations combined.

Spurs

  • San Antonio stood pat, not surprising given their record, which is now 47-9.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 2/23/16

February 24th, 2016 at 12:00am CST by Eddie Scarito

The trade deadline deal that sent Markieff Morris to the Wizards brought to a close to the unhappy relationship between the power forward and the Suns organization. The bad blood between the two sides had begun last summer with the trade that sent Marcus Morris, Markieff’s twin brother, to the Pistons. The siblings had inked rookie scale extensions mere months earlier with designs on playing alongside one another, a dream that was scuttled with Marcus heading east.

But it wasn’t merely the notion of playing for different teams that upset the brothers, Marcus told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher recently. “Everybody thinking that we’re upset because we don’t get to play with each other,” Marcus said. “Kieff can’t deal with adversity? We’re from north Philadelphia. This isn’t adversity. This is betrayal.” The alleged betrayal that Morris refers to is that of Suns team owner Robert Sarver, who had maintained a close relationship with the twins, not providing them with any advance warning that one was about to be traded, according to Bucher’s article.

Today’s topic for discussion is not about the Morris twins directly, but rather about their argument that they should have been informed prior to the deal being consummated. Do franchises owe it to players to inform them they are about to be dealt?

The majority of us can’t fathom earning what NBA players do, so it is sometimes easy to discount the human element involved in any form of player movement. Don’t forget that many of these players have families whose lives are impacted by trades and that isn’t a trivial concern. Keeping this in mind I can certainly empathize with the Morris twins, though I don’t necessarily agree with how they have conducted themselves since Marcus became a Piston. The flip side to this argument is that any deal between two or more teams is a fragile thing that is never officially done until the trade call with the league office is complete. What if a player who was told he was about to be traded took to social media to express his feelings about the pending deal? This is something that could kill the negotiations or make them significantly more difficult to complete.

What do you have to say on the matter? Are you of the opinion that because of their exorbitant salaries, NBA players aren’t owed any warning or input when they are being discussed in a potential trade? Or do you sit on the other side of the fence and believe that teams owe it to players to keep them 100% in the loop regardless of any potential secrecy risks? Take to the comments section to share your thoughts and opinions. We look forward to what you have to say.

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2015/16 Salary Cap Update: Brooklyn Nets

February 23rd, 2016 at 8:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 is set at $70MM, which is good for an 11% increase from last season, and the luxury tax line is fixed at $84.74MM. With the February 18th cutoff date for trades now past and the de facto deadline of March 1st for buyouts rapidly approaching, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of updating the salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the Brooklyn Nets, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:

  • 2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
  • 2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
  • Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $82,384,834*
  • Remaining Cap Room= -$12,384,834
  • Amount Below Luxury Tax Line= $2,287,021**

*Note: This amount includes the $5,474,487 owed to Deron Williams, who was waived via the stretch provision. This amount also includes the $75K owed to Ryan Boatright and the $50K owed to Quincy Miller, who were waived, as well as the $17,638 paid to Dahntay Jones, and the $9,942 paid to Justin Harper, both of whom were waived after earning two days salary. This amount also does not reflect any salary Andrea Bargnani may have given up as part of a buyout arrangement.

**Note: Donald Sloan‘s actual salary for tax purposes is $1,015,421.

Cap Exceptions Available:

  • Mid-Level Exception= $2,464,000
  • Trade Exception=  $1,357,080 (Mason Plumlee. Expires June 27th, 2016)
  • Trade Exception= $2,170,465 (Steve Blake. Expires July 13th, 2016)
  • Disabled Player Exception= $3,150,000 (Jarrett Jack. Expires March 10th, 2016)

Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,400,000

Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $3,400,000

Note: Despite the trade deadline having passed, the NBA season technically doesn’t end until June 30th. Teams are able to again make trades upon the completion of the regular season or when/if they are eliminated from the playoffs, whichever comes later. So these cash limits still apply.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

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Waivers, China Boost Current Free Agent Market

February 23rd, 2016 at 2:46pm CST by Chuck Myron

Trade season is over in the NBA, so free agent signings take on a much more important role as teams look to improve for the stretch run and the playoffs. Not coincidentally, the free agent market is somewhat more ample than it was before the trade deadline. More than a dozen players have hit waivers since deadline day this past Thursday. Four already have new teams, while veterans like J.J. Hickson, Andrea Bargnani and DeJuan Blair are up for grabs.

This is also the time of year when players begin to shake free from China, where several noteworthy names have gone to play in recent years. Michael Beasley, who’s apparently drawing the eye of a handful of NBA clubs, is among the familiar names once more available.

We’ve put together a categorized look at the players who’ve either gone or are going through NBA waivers as well as a sampling of notables from the Chinese Basketball Association. Note that this list doesn’t include players in the D-League or those who’ve recently finished 10-day contracts, since they’ve been readily available to NBA teams all along. It also doesn’t include buyout candidates like Joe Johnson and Kevin Martin, since it remains to be seen whether they’ll be on the market.

Cleared waivers

On waivers (scheduled to clear Wednesday)

Became free agents but already signed

Prominent Chinese league signees whose seasons are over

Still playing in China (team in semifinals)

Note: Andray Blatche‘s Chinese season is over, but his three-year deal is reportedly without any allowance that would let him play in the NBA during the spring. Others who’ve been playing in China may have similar arrangements that haven’t been reported yet.

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Heat Led NBA With Four Trades This Season

February 23rd, 2016 at 10:41am CST by Chuck Myron

It was a down year for trades compared to last season, but seven NBA teams still managed to pull of multiple swaps during the 2015/16 regular season. None were more active than the Heat, whose months-long salary shedding effort, which dates to the summer, resulted in four trades that brought back only a single player.

A trio of other teams made three trades apiece for varying reasons, from Cleveland’s all-out effort to win the title to the Magic’s cap-clearing philosophy to the Grizzlies’ draft-pick collection. There would have been 10 teams to make multiple swaps this season, but the voided deal between the Pistons, Rockets and Sixers nixed what would have been the second trade for each of those clubs.

Our trade recap for this season shows every trade that took place between opening night and the trade deadline, with links to further details and trades from previous seasons and offseasons. However, it can be tough to see exactly what teams that made more than one move ended up getting and giving up. That’s where this post comes in.

We’ve listed the assets gained (In) and lost (Out) for each team with multiple moves during the 2015/16 regular season, with a “Passing through” category that shows players and picks that a team traded for and later traded away, where applicable.

HEAT (4 trades)
In:

  • Beno Udrih
  • New Orleans’ 2018 second-round pick (top-55 protected)
  • $75K cash

Out:

Passing through:

CAVALIERS (3 trades)
In:

  • Channing Frye
  • Portland’s 2020 second-round pick (top-55 protected)

Out:

Passing through:

  • Cleveland’s unprotected 2020 second-round pick

GRIZZLIES (3 trades)
In: 

Out:

MAGIC (3 trades)
In: 

Out:

CLIPPERS (2 trades)
In:

Out:

PELICANS (2 trades)
In:

  • Jarnell Stokes (waived)
  • Denver’s unprotected 2016 second-round pick
  • Philadelphia’s unprotected 2017 second-round pick
  • $721,300 cash

Out:

  • Ish Smith
  • New Orleans’ 2018 second-round pick (top-55 protected)

TRAIL BLAZERS (2 trades)
In:

Out:

  • Cleveland’s unprotected 2020 second-round pick
  • $75K cash

The RealGM traded picks database was used in the creation of this post.

Which of these teams made out best from its trade activity? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

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