Hoops Rumors Originals

The drastic increases in the salary cap are still a year away, but the understanding that the changes are on the horizon seemed have a significant effect on this offseason. Perhaps one of the most demonstrable changes came in the amount of new five-year contracts. Free agents signed more five-year contracts this summer than in the previous three years put together, as I briefly noted during the initial July rush. It’s an indication that teams won a key power struggle with players.

The lure of better money a year from now made short-term deals ostensibly more attractive than ever for this year’s free agents. Conversely, teams had motivation to tie up valuable players for as long as possible now, lest they be able to command more money in a year or two, or three or four.

Few players, if any, have as much leverage as those whom teams deem worthy of maximum-salary deals, but even among that group, the number of five-year contracts was higher this year. Pen hit paper on only one five-year max deal per summer each of the previous three years, including last season, when Carmelo Anthony took slightly less than his max to re-sign with the Knicks. This year, a trio of players signed five-year max deals, including Kawhi Leonard, who indicated that the length of his deal intrigued him even more than the money. Leonard may be an outlier who wouldn’t necessarily have sought the most lucrative arrangement for himself no matter the cap dynamics, and Marc Gasol, at age 30, may have been wise to grab a max deal while he still can. It’s nonetheless worth wondering if the Cavs, and not Love, were the party that insisted upon five years in Kevin Love‘s deal.

The proliferation of five-year deals also indicates a willingness from players to stay put, and from teams to retain their existing talent, since only incumbent teams may offer five-year contracts.

Whatever the reasons, here’s a list of every five-year free agent contract signed the past four offseasons. Note that the list doesn’t include extensions, like the five-year pacts that Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard signed this summer, since those players weren’t free agents. Salaries are rounded to the nearest $1K.

2015

1. Marc Gasol, Grizzlies ($113.212MM — max)
2. Kevin Love, Cavaliers ($113.212MM — max)
3. Kawhi Leonard, Spurs ($94.343MM — max)
4. Jimmy Butler, Bulls ($92.34MM)
5. Goran Dragic, Heat ($85.002MM)
6. Draymond Green, Warriors ($82MM)
7. Reggie Jackson, Pistons ($80MM)
8. Brandon Knight, Suns ($70MM)
9. Khris Middleton, Bucks ($70MM)
10. Omer Asik, Pelicans ($52.978MM)
11. Jae Crowder, Celtics ($35MM)
12. Kyle Singler, Thunder ($24.3MM)

2014

1. Carmelo Anthony, Knicks ($124.065MM)
2. Chris Bosh, Heat ($118.705MM — max)
3. Eric Bledsoe, Suns ($70MM)
4. Marcin Gortat, Wizards ($60MM)

2013

1. Chris Paul, Clippers ($107.343MM — max)
2. Nikola Pekovic, Timberwolves ($60MM)

2012

1. Deron Williams, Nets ($98.772MM — max)
2. George Hill, Pacers ($40MM)
3. Ersan Ilyasova, Bucks ($40MM)
4. Jason Thompson, Kings ($30.188MM)

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

Do you think teams and players will continue to sign a larger number of five-year deals each summer, or is this just a one-year phenomenon? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

The vast majority of the more than 120 players who’ll hit waivers this month will do so in the final few days before the start of the regular season. Some of them are competing for spots on the regular season roster. Others are around so that their teams can evaluate them during training camp and preseason practices in an effort to gain greatest amount of knowledge possible about intriguing prospects should a need arise later on. Still more fall into that latter category as players bound for the D-League, since signing a player to the NBA roster for the preseason is one way to secure his D-League rights.

Those reasons generally dictate that teams will hold on to those players as long as possible, but sometimes, cuts come with weeks to go before opening night. That was the case for Nikoloz Tskitishvili this weekend, when the Clippers released the former fifth overall pick, and Dan Nwaelele, whom the Grizzlies waived Monday night. It’s not quite clear exactly why the teams parted ways with either so quickly, though Nwaelele suffered a minor injury that had kept him out of practice. I’d speculate that Nwaelele’s contract, a one-year, non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary, was an Exhibit 9 that limited the team’s liability in case of an injury. If so, the Grizzlies needed only to pay him $6K when they waived him. Of course, Memphis might have saved that $6K if he’d healed by the end of the preseason, so it’s still tough to tell exactly what went on. In any case, he’ll return to the Warriors D-League affiliate, as international journalist David Pick reported, since the Santa Cruz Warriors held his D-League rights from his time with them in 2013/14. Where Tskitishvili will end up remains a mystery.

Sometimes, players request their early release. That was the case last year with Michael Beasley, who asked off the Grizzlies so he could take a deal to play in China. Beasley had reportedly been suffering from an illness that would have made it difficult for him to stick for opening night on his non-guaranteed deal for the minimum salary, while China’s Shanghai Sharks were offering a lucrative contract, so the former No. 2 overall pick had financial motivation to make his move.

On other occasions, the financial motivation is the team’s. Exhibit 9’s aren’t allowed unless a team already has 14 players under contract, and so occasionally, teams will sign a player to a standard contract just so they can sign others to Exhibit 9’s and then release the player on the conventional deal. Players who aren’t on Exhibit 9’s and who sustain injuries while playing for the team receive their salary until they’re ready to play again, regardless of whether the team waives them. Thus, any player signed to a standard contract whom the team doesn’t believe is worthy of a regular season roster spot is a quick waiver candidate, lest he sustain injury in practice or a preseason game. Michael Dunigan of the Cavaliers appeared to be in that position, but he’s still on the Cavs roster. He’s one of 20 players with Cleveland, so he or another would have to go if the team finally signs Tristan Thompson, and that demonstrates another reason why camp invitees might hit waivers early. Sometimes, teams simply need the roster room.

Here’s a list of each of the players who hit waivers more than two weeks before opening night last year, one that suggests Tskitishvili and Nwaelele will have plenty of company shortly.

• Vander Blue, Wizards — October 3rd
• David Stockton, Wizards — October 3rd
• Keith Bogans, Sixers — October 7th
• Jarvis Varnado, Sixers — October 7th
• Michael Beasley, Grizzlies — October 9th
• Vernon Macklin, Pelicans — October 9th
• Dee Bost, Jazz — October 10th
• Kevin Murphy, Jazz — October 10th
• Luke Hancock, Grizzlies — October 13th
• John Holland, Spurs — October 13th
• Chris Johnson, Heat — October 13th
• James Southerland, Trail Blazers — October 13th
• Reggie Williams, Heat — October 13th

No-trade clauses, like the one Carmelo Anthony says he has no intention to waive to facilitate an exit from the Knicks, are rare in the NBA. Only a half-dozen of the most decorated players have them. It’s much more common that a player will gain a de facto no-trade clause through a quirk in the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

Bird rights, Early Bird rights and Non-Bird rights are all mechanisms that allow teams to go above the salary cap to retain their own players. Trades usually have no effect on those rights, but that’s not the case with players on one-year contracts, or two-year contracts that include an option. A team that acquires a player on a one-year deal via trade can’t use any form of Bird rights to re-sign that player the following offseason. The player often stands to lose financially in such a case, so the NBA allows players who re-signed with their previous teams on one-year contracts, or two-year contracts with option clauses, to block trades if they choose.

Two other situations allow players to veto trades. Players who sign offer sheets that their original team ends up matching don’t have to be traded if they don’t want to for one year after signing the offer sheet, and players who accepted qualifying offers can block trades, too.

One additional note: No player signed this offseason can be traded until December 15th, at the earliest.

Here’s a team-by-team breakdown of players who can block trades this season:

No-trade clauses

• Carmelo Anthony, Knicks
• Kobe Bryant, Lakers
• *Tim Duncan, Spurs
• Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves
• Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks
• *Dwyane Wade, Heat

Players whose offer sheets were matched

• Enes Kanter, Thunder

Players accepting qualifying offers

• Norris Cole, Pelicans
• Matthew Dellavedova, Cavaliers

Players re-signing for one year (or two years including option)

• Lou Amundson, Knicks
• Darrell Arthur, Nuggets
• Leandro Barbosa, Warriors
• Matt Bonner, Spurs
• Aaron Brooks, Bulls
• *Tim Duncan, Spurs
• Manu Ginobili, Spurs
• LeBron James, Cavaliers
• James Jones, Cavaliers
• Austin Rivers, Clippers
• J.R. Smith, Cavaliers
• Lance Thomas, Knicks
• Jason Terry, Rockets
• Charlie Villanueva, Mavericks
• *Dwyane Wade, Heat

*- Players with an asterisk by their names have a no-trade clause expressly written in their contracts and have a de facto no-trade clause, too.

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

Here’s a look back at the original analysis generated by the Hoops Rumors staff this past week…

• If you missed the week’s live chat, you can view the transcript here.
• I handed out 2015 Draft Grades to the teams of the Northwest Division.
• As a part of our continuing series, “The Beat,” Chuck Myron interviewed John Reid of The Times Picayune and Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman.
• Zach Links highlighted some of the better basketball blogs around in his weekly installment of Hoops Links.
• I broke down the 2015/16 salary cap commitments for the Jazz and the Wizards.
• Zach interviewed Anthony Puccio of SBNation’s Nets Daily as a part of our Top Bloggers series.
• If you missed any of our daily reader-driven discussions, be sure to check out the Community Shootaround archives.
• Here’s how you can follow Hoops Rumors on social media and RSS feeds.
• I answered reader questions in our Weekly Mailbag.
• We reviewed our commenting policy. Play nice everyone.
• We asked readers to rank where each NBA team will finish the 2015/16 campaign. Here are the results for teams No. 23, No. 22, No. 21, No. 20, and No. 19.