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Players Who Can Veto Trades

October 4th, 2016 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.

Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.

Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:

No-trade clauses

Players whose offer sheets were matched

Players accepting qualifying offers

  • None

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

Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.

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Spoelstra Still Supportive Of Bosh

October 1st, 2016 at 8:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

Coach Erik Spoelstra continues to support Chris Bosh despite his ongoing feud with the organization, writes Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald. After failing his training camp physical over a blood clot issue and hearing from team president Pat Riley that his days with the Heat were likely over, Bosh responded with a video Friday in which he claims that he can still play and accuses Riley of not reaching out to him before announcing the news to reporters. The Heat denied Bosh’s charges, saying that Riley had called, texted and emailed Bosh and his agent in an attempt to set up a meeting. Regardless of the dispute and the pessimistic view of Bosh’s future in Miami, Spoelstra refused to criticize his former star. “I love Chris Bosh, his family. I said this so many times, Chris was very important to me as a head coach,” Spoelstra said. “With those teams, he was somebody I really leaned on. That extended outside the lines. It’s something I really have enjoyed and my hope is that relationship can continue.” Those comments were echoed by many of Bosh’s teammates, including Udonis Haslem, who said, “It’s not easy just to walk away.”

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Latest On Chris Bosh

September 30th, 2016 at 4:52pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite failing his most recent physical and not being cleared to participate in training camp, Chris Bosh still wants and intends to continue his NBA career, though, it appears he’s resigned to the fact that it won’t be in Miami, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports.com relays. Team president Pat Riley told reporters during Miami’s media day, “I think Chris is still open-minded. But we are not working toward his return We feel that, based on the last exam, that his Heat career is probably over.” In response to that, Bosh addressed the matter in a video post today:

“Got the news. I was in disbelief for a couple seconds, then I threw my phone down and I stormed out the room… But I’m glad I didn’t break my phone. I wanted to break it, but I didn’t….I guess my career in Miami is done. My career is not done. I did not expect that at all…. That does not mean my NBA career is over. There are 29 other teams, it’s a whole league. One team does not make up the opinion of everything.”

Bosh also took a shot at Riley and the team, saying, “I want to tell everyone in Miami this is not how I planned it to be. They don’t want to hear Dwyane Wade is gone. They don’t want to hear, ‘oh yea, Chris is never going to play for the Miami Heat again.’ People don’t want to hear that. I just feel for the fans. I wanted to give them more, I wanted to give them something better. Because they deserve better than what they’re getting right now.”

The forward also penned a letter to Heat fans on his personal blog, writing:

“It’s funny how things change. All I have right now associated with basketball are my friends and memories. And I’m so thankful for those things. I remember just a few years ago when the Big 3 were together and we were having a ball playing the game we love with some of the most professional, talented guys the NBA has ever seen. I remember the fans of Miami coming out to see the show every night. The love, the compassion and the energy we felt was second to none. I want to thank the city of Miami from the bottom of my heart because things may change but the good times will last forever in my memories. Thank you!

Things are different now and Miami has incredible young talent with a tremendous upside. These are not only talented ball players but great people and friends. I enjoyed playing with those guys and doing my best to mentor them by being an upstanding role model and veteran player. It’s their time to go through the ups and downs of the game with this great city. I want to thank not only the fans of Miami but everyone around the world who has supported our team and who has supported me through this time. I see you posting with #BoshRebuilt on social media every day and I receive the love that you give me. Thank you so much. I couldn’t make it without your support.“

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Contract Details: Brand, Rockets, Thunder, Pacers

September 30th, 2016 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

With training camps underway, teams have now officially finalized the contract agreements with various camp invitees that had been reported over the past several weeks, meaning we have plenty of contract details to round up. As usual, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has been busy reporting those details, updating his salary pages for teams around the NBA.

Because we have so many updates to pass along from Pincus, we’ll divide them up by players who received some guaranteed money from their teams, and those who didn’t. All of the links below point to the Basketball Insiders team salary pages, so be sure to click through for additional information.

Here are the latest salary updates from across the league, via Pincus:

Players receiving guaranteed money:

These players aren’t necessarily assured of regular-season roster spots. In fact, many of them likely received guarantees as an incentive to accept a D-League assignment. Still, for some players, larger guarantees should increase their odds of making 15-man rosters.

  • Thomas Walkup (Bulls): One year, minimum salary. $69.5K guaranteed.
  • Keith Benson (Heat): Two years, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Henry Sims (Jazz): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Alex Poythress (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $35,381 guaranteed.
  • Kevin Seraphin (Pacers): Two years, $3.681MM. First year ($1.8MM) guaranteed.
  • Julyan Stone (Pacers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Gary Payton II (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. First year ($543,471) guaranteed.
  • Isaiah Taylor (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kyle Wiltjer (Rockets): Two years, minimum salary. $275K guaranteed.
  • Cat Barber (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Elton Brand (Sixers): One year, minimum salary. $1MM guaranteed.
  • Derrick Jones (Suns): Three years, minimum salary. $42.5K guaranteed.
  • Alex Caruso (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $50K guaranteed.
  • Kaleb Tarczewski (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $75K guaranteed.
  • Chris Wright (Thunder): One year, minimum salary. $100K guaranteed.

Players receiving no guaranteed money:

The following players all signed one-year, minimum salary contracts with no guaranteed money. Many of these deals are “summer contracts,” which won’t count against a team’s cap unless the player earns a spot on the 15-man roster.

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Josh McRoberts Recovering From Broken Foot

September 28th, 2016 at 11:52am CST by Luke Adams
  • Josh McRoberts revealed today that he broke his foot during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in May, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). Before McRoberts made that announcement, Winderman had examined the potential role this season for the Heat forward, who is limited in camp as his foot continues to recover.
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Heat Notes: Riley, Bosh, Whiteside, Waiters

September 27th, 2016 at 6:41pm CST by Luke Adams

While some teams won’t admit they’re in rebuilding mode, Heat president Pat Riley didn’t mind using the R-word on Monday, as Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald tweets. Comparing the current roster to recent Heat teams, Riley noted that the franchise was “tweaking” the roster during the Big Three era, “retooling” it after LeBron James returned to Cleveland, and is “rebuilding” now. With Dwyane Wade gone and Chris Bosh unlikely to suit up for the Heat again, it will be interesting to see if the team goes into full-fledged rebuilding mode this year, perhaps shopping veteran point guard Goran Dragic.

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald passes along a couple more comments from Riley, who said he has yet to “hit send” on an email he wrote to Wade, and added that he’s had thoughts about “moving on” from his role with the Heat but still gets excited by the prospect of a new season.
  • Asked about losing Bosh, Dragic admitted that it helps to have some certainty about what the roster and lineup will look like, but said he’d prefer to have the “small chance [Bosh] could be back,” per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “It’s not the prettiest situation right now.” Dragic said. “But we need to clear our heads and have one focus, one goal to get better as a team, get to know each other and try to build that chemistry we are going to need this season.”
  • Tom Ziller of SBNation.com makes a case for why the Heat should waive Bosh, rather than keeping him on the roster.
  • After being one of the league’s most underpaid players in recent years, Hassan Whiteside now has a maximum-salary contract, but he won’t let the new deal make him complacent, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
  • Winderman and Jackson have each published pieces on Dion Waiters, with Winderman writing that the Heat’s new shooting guard won’t be thinking about filling Wade’s shoes, while Jackson notes that Waiters opted for happiness over money when he chose to sign with Miami.
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Pat Riley: Chris Bosh’s Career With Heat Likely Over

September 26th, 2016 at 9:11am CST by Luke Adams

Although Chris Bosh pledged this weekend to continue working toward a comeback after his latest health setback, it doesn’t appear as though he’ll return to the Heat. Team president Pat Riley said today that the Heat are no longer anticipating Bosh to get back on the court for the franchise, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

“I think Chris is still open-minded. But we are not working toward his return,” Riley said. “We feel that, based on the last exam, that his Heat career is probably over.”

Asked whether or not he feels that Bosh’s NBA career is also over, Riley suggested “that’s up to him,” according to Winderman. The veteran big man has had to deal with blood-clotting issues and failed a recent physical with the Heat, whose doctors weren’t comfortable clearing him to play.

Riley and Bosh’s camp have disagreed on how much support the team has provided the 11-time All-Star as he has dealt with his health issues. While Riley says the Heat have worked hard to help Bosh get back on the court, Bosh’s camp says he received little help from the team, and had to find his own doctor to get a program that would allow him to play, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter links). Riley and Bosh reportedly haven’t spoken in months — Riley said today that he has reached out to Bosh, but didn’t receive a reply, tweets Ethan J. Skolnick of The Miami Herald.

“His health, playing and economics — it’s been health, health, health,” Riley said today. “Whatever the cap ramifications are, they are there, but we never ever thought about that. … Contrary to how this thing has been perpetuated in the media, we have worked very, very hard with Chris. We headed down the road very excited to a point where we thought it would work. And then the physical couldn’t clear him to the next step.”

The Heat would have multiple options to increase their cap flexibility if Bosh is unable to return to the court this year. Miami could apply for a disabled player exception worth about $5.6MM that would allow the team to sign or trade a player for no more than that amount. Alternately, as of February 9, the club could potentially remove Bosh’s remaining cap hits from its books if a doctor jointly approved by the NBA and the NBPA rules him medically unable to return.

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Eastern Notes: Wade, Young, Siakam, Wright

September 25th, 2016 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Now that the shock waves have died down over his move from Miami to Chicago, Dwyane Wade wants to prove he can still be an elite player in a new environment, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. After a contract standoff with the Heat, Wade surprised the NBA in July by agreeing to a two-year, $47MM deal with the Bulls. When Chicago opens camp this week, it will be the first time Wade has been with a team other than Miami in his 13-year career. “When I don’t have anything else left to prove, then I don’t need to play the game of basketball,” Wade said. “I want to prove I’m out of my comfort zone. I’m in a totally different environment, a totally different system. This is a challenge for me, at this stage of my career. Leave it up to me to put myself in a challenge and not just fade to black in the comfortableness of Miami.”

There’s more tonight from the Eastern Conference:

  • James Young is ready to battle for a roster spot as the Celtics open camp, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Boston has 16 players with guaranteed contracts, and the competition for the final slot is expected to come down to Young, second-year guard R.J. Hunter and rookie forward Ben Bentil. Young, a 6’6″ shooting guard, has been with the Celtics for two seasons but has played in just a combined 60 games. He will make more than $1.8MM this season, but may be in the organization’s dog house after being benched during summer league for his poor play. “I’m not thinking about contracts or the next year,” Young said. “I’m just staying in the present right now, gotten a lot better, still getting better. And there’s a lot better for me to come, so I’m not even thinking about the future, who they got coming up or what’s going on. I’m staying right here in the present.”
  • Rookie forward Pascal Siakam will be ready when the Raptors open training camp on Monday, tweets Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Siakam, the 27th pick in this year’s draft, suffered a left MCL sprain in summer league and missed all but one game. Wolstat adds that Delon Wright, the 20th pick in the draft, is making progress but won’t return to action for a while. Wright had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder August 1st and was expected to need at least four months to recover.
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Heat Notes: Dragic, Bosh, Babbitt

September 24th, 2016 at 5:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Goran Dragic, who was excited to be teamed with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh when he was swapped to the Heat at the 2014 trade deadline, may finish his career in Miami without either one, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Wade signed with the Bulls over the summer and Bosh faces an uncertain medical future after failing his training camp physical. That leaves Dragic as the team’s new leader, and he says he wants to embrace that role. “When you have D-Wade next to you, or C.B., then they can take the game in their hands immediately,” Dragic said. “Now, probably it’s going to be a little bit different. I’m ready. I already felt great last year at the end of the season.” Dragic has four seasons and more than $70MM left on his contract.

There’s more news out of Miami:

  • Miami has the option to apply for a Disabled Player Exception if its medical staff decides Bosh can’t play this season, notes Bobby Marks of The Vertical. If an NBA-designated doctor agrees, the Heat would receive a $5.6MM exception that they can use until March 10th. The exception can be used to sign a free agent to a one-year contract or acquire a player with one season left on his current deal, either through trade or waivers. The Heat have 15 players with guaranteed contracts, including Bosh, so a roster spot would have to be cleared before the DPE could be used. However, the Heat may be looking to get the rest of Bosh’s remaining salary removed from their cap, which they can’t do if they use this exception.
  • Luke Babbitt may have changed teams, but his role will be the same, Winderman writes in a separate piece. Babbitt, who was acquired in a July trade with New Orleans, was used as a stretch four with the Pelicans to create room in the paint for Anthony Davis. With the Heat, he expects to create room for Hassan Whiteside and driving lanes for Dragic. “That’s what NBA offense is, is spacing,” Babbitt said. “So to give guys, to maximize those guys, Hassan, Goran, to open up driving lanes, you have to have people to space it out that can shoot, that’s the way the league is going now.” Babbitt, who just re-signed with the Pelicans last summer, said the trade caught him by surprise. “I didn’t really know it was coming,” he said. “But once I got the news, mentally it just totally shifted over and I was excited. I had a good couple of years in New Orleans, but with this kind of rebuilding group I feel like I kind of fit with what we’re trying to do here.”
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Chris Bosh Pledges “Everything Will Work Out”

September 24th, 2016 at 9:01am CST by Eddie Scarito

Heat forward Chris Bosh, who failed his most recent physical and was not cleared by team doctors to participate in training camp, vowed to continue his attempt to make it back to the court, Brian Windhorst of ESPN relays. Speaking in a videotaped segment published online, Bosh called the news “a down moment right now,” while pledging that everything would work out.

“I had the intention of releasing Episode 2 of ‘Uninterrupted: Bosh Rebuilt’ today under the assumption I would be cleared to go for camp,” Bosh said in the video. “Unfortunately that is not the case. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to share my creative side with you guys and hoping that you want to come along on the journey with me. Just because the journey has ups and downs doesn’t mean I will stop sharing with you guys. So I will just continue to share despite what’s going on.”

“Little setbacks happen. But that doesn’t change my intentions and what I want to accomplish,” Bosh continued. “So I hope you continue to watch. I hope you continue to just take in my journey and just come along with me with the ups and downs. So it’s a down moment right now, but everything’s going to be all right.”

This statement from Bosh seems to indicate that he currently doesn’t intend to retire, which leaves the Heat in a difficult spot. Miami currently has 15 players under contract with fully guaranteed deals, including Bosh. If Bosh is unwilling to retire, the team will either be forced to retain Bosh, thus losing a valuable regular season roster spot and hurting its depth, or to waive the player and eat the cap hit. The 32-year-old is set to earn $23,741,060 this season, $25,289,390 in 2017/18 and $26,837,720 the following year, which is the final one in his current deal.

The Heat’s most recent exams discovered “evidence of some continued clotting,” which is thought to be related to one of the previous blood clot episodes that sidelined Bosh for parts of the last two seasons. The clotting complication isn’t viewed as life-threatening, but it will require medication, and the club doesn’t consider it realistic for Bosh to get back on the court and play in his current condition, as Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reported on Friday.

The primary deadline to keep an eye on regarding Bosh and Miami’s salary cap is February 9th, 2017. If Bosh has been unable to play for Miami by that date, and a doctor jointly approved by the NBA and the Players’ Association rules him medically unable to return, the Heat could remove his current and future cap hits from their books, creating significant cap space. However, if the team made that move and Bosh was eventually cleared to return, he wouldn’t be able to rejoin the Heat. Though, the two sides’ relationship could turn openly contentious by that point and neither party may have interest in a reunion anyway.

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