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NBA Teams With Open Roster Spots

February 13th, 2018 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Now that the dust has settled on last Thursday’s trade-deadline deals and the first round of veteran buyouts and cuts has been completed, it’s worth taking stock of which NBA teams have the flexibility to add a player or two without waivers anyone else.

With the help of our roster counts page, which we update all season, here are the NBA teams with open spots on their 15-man rosters. Open two-way contract slots aren’t included here, since teams are ineligible to sign new two-way contracts at this point in the season.

Teams with a player on a 10-day contract filling their open spot:

  • Phoenix Suns
  • Utah Jazz

Both the Suns and Jazz have 14 players on fully guaranteed NBA contracts, leaving one potential opening. For now, Josh Gray is filling that 15th spot in Phoenix and Naz Mitrou-Long is doing the same in Utah. However, they’re only on 10-day contracts, so both of these teams could soon create an open spot if necessary.

Teams with one open spot:

  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Memphis Grizzlies
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • New York Knicks
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Orlando Magic
  • Sacramento Kings
  • Toronto Raptors

The teams listed above represent a mix of playoff-bound squads and rebuilding non-contenders. Teams like the Bulls, Mavericks, and Knicks could use their open roster spots to take fliers on young players via 10-day contracts, while clubs like the Timberwolves, Thunder, and Raptors may be eyeing the buyout market for veterans who could fortify their respective benches.

Teams with two open spots:

  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Portland Trail Blazers
  • Washington Wizards

NBA rules generally prohibit teams from carrying fewer than 14 players on their 15-man squads. However, clubs are permitted to dip to 13 – or even 12 – in special circumstances, as long as they get back up to 14 within two weeks. Roster moves made last week by the Hawks, Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, and Wizards left them below the limit, so they’ll each have to add at least one player by the end of the All-Star break.

Note: Roster info current as of Tuesday, February 13 at 2:00pm CT.

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Pelicans Waive Rashad Vaughn, Mike James

February 10th, 2018 at 3:19pm CST by clarkcrum

The Pelicans have requested waivers on guard Rashad Vaughn and two-way player Mike James, per an official press release from the team. And according to Scott Kushner of The Advocate, it looks like New Orleans may use the newly acquired roster spot gained from releasing Vaughn to give the team an option to acquire another player in the upcoming buyout market.

Vaughn, who began this season with the Bucks, was acquired by the Nets in exchange for Tyler Zeller earlier this week. Then, on trade deadline day, the Nets traded him to the Pelicans in exchange for Dante Cunningham, giving New Orleans a trade exception worth $2.3MM, the value of Cunningham’s salary.

The 21-year-old former first-round pick played in only one game for the Nets and didn’t suit up for the Pelicans. In Milwaukee, he appeared in 22 games this season, averaging 2.7 PPG in only 7.9 MPG. He will become an unrestricted free agent assuming he clears waivers.

James, whose release was first reported yesterday by David Pick, asked the Pelicans to waive him so that he could return to Panathinaikos B.C. in Greece, where James helped Panathinaikos win both the Greek Cup title and the Greek Basket League championship last season.

Likely most recognized for being the first player in NBA history to have his two-way contract converted into a regular season contract, James put up respectable numbers for the Suns as a rookie earlier this season, averaging 10.4 points and 3.8 assists in 20.9 minutes per game before being waived to make room on the roster for Isaiah Canaan.

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2017/18 Buyout Market Summary

February 9th, 2018 at 10:51pm CST by Austin Kent

With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, much attention is being paid to what is expected to be several weeks of busy buyout market activity. The last day that a player can be waived from their current team and still be eligible to play in the postseason with a new team is March 1.

Below are a series of lists breaking down the veterans who have already been bought out – or simply waived – by their respective teams since the trade deadline, along with those who are expected to be, and several more who really ought to be considered possible buyout candidates even if no reports have come out explicitly stating as much.

As the weeks unfold, we may see new names surface as buyout candidates, in such cases (and whenever a player is formally bought out) we’ll update the list.

Potential buyout candidates:

Expected to be bought out or released:

  • None

Veterans who have been bought out or released:

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Traded Player Exceptions Created In Deadline Deals

February 9th, 2018 at 12:39pm CST by Luke Adams

Before NBA teams started reaching trade agreements on Thursday, we published the latest entry in our Hoops Rumors Glossary, focusing on the traded player exception. As we explain in our breakdown, the traded player exception can allow over-the-cap teams to receive more salary than they send out in “simultaneous” trades.

The more common form of traded player exception is the one generated in a “non-simultaneous” trade, when a team send out a single player and takes back less salary – or none at all – in return. The team then has one calendar year to use that newly-created exception to acquire one or more players whose salaries fit into that exception.

For instance, the Raptors created a $11,800,000 trade exception in last July’s DeMarre Carroll trade with the Nets, meaning that on Thursday they could have acquired a player earning, say, $11MM without sending out any salary in return.

Not many teams took advantage of their outstanding trade exceptions on Thursday, but at least a couple teams appear to have completed trades with previously existing trade exceptions, or with disabled player exceptions. Nearly every trade completed on Thursday also generated at least one new trade exception, so we’ll round up those newly-created TPEs below.

With the help of tweets from cap experts Albert Nahmad and Bobby Marks, along with information from RealGM’s official transactions log, here’s a breakdown of the new TPEs, sorted by value. Not all of these exceptions have been confirmed with 100% certainty, but this is what we believe they’ll look like. These TPEs will expire if they’re not used by February 8, 2019:

Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions has been updated, and will be adjusted if necessary once we’re able to confirm all the TPEs listed above.

If you have any corrections or questions, please let us know in the comment section.

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Pelicans Trade Dante Cunningham To Nets

February 8th, 2018 at 3:47pm CST by Austin Kent

3:47pm: The trade is now official, according to a press release issued by the Nets.

1:30pm: The Pelicans are trading forward Dante Cunningham to the Nets in exchange for Rashad Vaughn, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.

The 30-year-old veteran on an expiring deal, who had previously requested a trade from New Orleans, will arrive in Brooklyn and plans to stay there. David Aldridge of TNT tweets that the forward does not intend to pursue a buyout from his new team after three and a half seasons with the Pelicans.

In 51 games for the Pels, including 24 starts, Cunningham averaged 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. While he may not move the needle much for the Brooklyn franchise at first glance, the Nets staff has already done great things maximizing the value of other veterans at similar stages in their career.

The deal comes hours after a previous Cunningham swap fell through. Earlier today we wrote that the Pistons were engaged with New Orleans but ultimately traded the package of assets reserved for Cunningham to the Grizzlies for forward James Ennis instead.

This is the second time in a week that Vaughn will change teams. After starting the year with the Bucks, the 21-year-old shooting guard played one game for the Nets. Now he’ll join a Pelicans squad desperate for perimeter scoring.

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Celtics Sign Greg Monroe

February 8th, 2018 at 2:37pm CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 8: Now that the trade deadline has passed without the Celtics needing to use their open roster spot, the team has made Monroe’s signing official.

FEBRUARY 2: Veteran center Greg Monroe will sign with the Celtics after he becomes a free agent this weekend, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Monroe, bought out and waived by the Suns on Thursday, is on track to clear waivers on Saturday.GregMonroe vertical Getty

[RELATED: Suns buy out Greg Monroe]

The Celtics and Pelicans were believed to be the frontrunners for Monroe, a New Orleans native. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the Pels offered Monroe the opportunity to be their starting center, but the big man will instead head to Boston, where he’ll have fewer guaranteed minutes, but a better chance to win a title.

Monroe will also be well compensated on his new deal with the Celtics, as Wojnarowski tweets that the one-year contract will be worth $5MM. That’s more than the Pelicans could offer, with Boston taking advantage of its extra flexibility by using its disabled player exception to reach an agreement with Monroe.

Even though the Celtics’ disabled player exception – awarded after Gordon Hayward went down in the team’s season opener – is worth $8.4MM, the DPE can only be used once, so the team won’t have the remaining $3.4MM available. Still, Boston plans to continue exploring the market for a perimeter scorer, according to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports, who cautions (via Twitter) that the front office is reluctant to part with a first-round pick.

Monroe, who opened the season in Milwaukee, was sent to the Suns in the fall for salary-matching purposes as part of the Bucks’ trade for Eric Bledsoe. The 27-year-old saw inconsistent minutes in Phoenix as he battled fellow centers Tyson Chandler and Alex Len for playing time.

Although Monroe has had his role reduced and has only appeared in 25 games this year, he has continued to be very effective on a per-minute basis, averaging 10.4 PPG and 7.4 RPG with a .601 FG% in 21.8 minutes per contest. He’ll join a Celtics frontcourt that could use some interior scoring and rebounding help. Outside of Al Horford, no one on Boston’s roster is averaging more than 5.5 RPG this season.

The Celtics are currently carrying 14 players on their roster, so they won’t need to waive anyone to make room for Monroe. However, the move could be bad news for Jarell Eddie, who would have been a candidate to rejoin the C’s if they still had a roster spot available after the trade deadline.

It’s also worth noting that there’s no rule preventing Hayward from returning to the Celtics before season’s end if he’s healthy enough to do so. The NBA initially awarded the C’s their DPE after an independent physician determined that the injured forward was more likely than not to be sidelined through June 15. If Hayward beats that recovery timetable, Boston wouldn’t be penalized at all.

As for the Pelicans, while they’ll be disappointed to miss out on Monroe, they did add another frontcourt piece on Thursday, acquiring Nikola Mirotic from the Bulls. New Orleans also still has two open roster spots, so the club figures to keep an eye out for more reinforcements on the trade market or buyout market.

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Pistons In Serious Talks To Acquire Dante Cunningham

February 8th, 2018 at 10:35am CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans and Pistons are engaged in discussions on a deal that would send Dante Cunningham to Detroit in exchange for Brice Johnson and a second-round pick, reports Vincent Goodwill of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) classifies those talks as “serious.”

As I noted earlier today when Scott Kushner of The Advocate described Cunningham as a trade candidate for the Pelicans, the veteran forward has the ability to veto a deal that involves him. However, league sources tell Jake Fischer of SI.com (Twitter link) that Cunningham has requested a trade, so he seems unlikely to take advantage of his ability to block a move.

The Pistons have already reportedly struck a deal with the Bulls to acquire point guard Jameer Nelson in exchange for Willie Reed. Johnson, like Reed, arrived in Detroit as a result of last week’s Blake Griffin trade. If the Pistons can complete a deal with the Pelicans, they’ll end up flipping both of those non-Griffin pieces from the Clippers to new teams in order to fortify their rotation with some additional veteran help.

Cunningham, 30, has spent the last three and a half seasons in New Orleans, appearing in 263 total games for the club during that time and starting almost exactly half (132) of them. Although he has been a reliable rotation piece for most of that time, Cunningham’s 2017/18 marks of 5.0 PPG and .440 FG% are his lowest since he joined the Pelicans, and he was benched for the entirety of the club’s most recent game.

For the Pelicans, Johnson – who has appeared in just 12 NBA games – would offer little upside, but a trade would allow the team to pick up an extra second-rounder and move a little further away from the luxury tax threshold. If the two teams can complete a deal, New Orleans could also absorb Johnson using one of their existing trade exceptions, creating a new trade exception worth Cunningham’s $2,300,000 salary.

If the Pistons and Pelicans don’t get anything done, the Timberwolves would be another team to watch for a Cunningham trade, tweets TNT’s David Aldridge.

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Dante Cunningham, Alexis Ajinca On Trade Block

February 8th, 2018 at 9:42am CST by Luke Adams
  • Dante Cunningham and Alexis Ajinca looks like the Pelicans‘ primary trade candidates today, sources tell Scott Kushner of The Advocate (Twitter link). Cunningham has the ability to veto trades and Ajinca is out for the season, so neither player has a ton of value.
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Forbes Releases 2018 NBA Franchise Valuations

February 7th, 2018 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks are still reeling from Tuesday’s news that Kristaps Porzingis has suffered a torn ACL and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. While Porzingis’ injury essentially eliminates the Knicks from the playoff race in the East, team ownership can at least find some solace in the fact that the organization remains the highest-valued franchise in the NBA, according to a report from Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes.

For the first time, all 30 NBA teams have a perceived worth of $1 billion or more, per Forbes’ annual report. In 2017, 18 teams had a valuation exceeding $1 billion, which was up from 13 teams in 2016 and just three teams in 2015.

The league-wide average of $1.65 billion per team is also a record, with franchise valuations up 22% in total over last year’s figures. NBA franchise values have tripled over the last five years, according to Badenhausen.

Here’s the full list of NBA franchise valuations, per Forbes:

  1. New York Knicks: $3.6 billion
  2. Los Angeles Lakers: $3.3 billion
  3. Golden State Warriors: $3.1 billion
  4. Chicago Bulls: $2.6 billion
  5. Boston Celtics: $2.5 billion
  6. Brooklyn Nets: $2.3 billion
  7. Houston Rockets: $2.2 billion
  8. Los Angeles Clippers: $2.15 billion
  9. Dallas Mavericks: $1.9 billion
  10. Miami Heat: $1.7 billion
  11. San Antonio Spurs: $1.55 billion
  12. Toronto Raptors: $1.4 billion
  13. Sacramento Kings: $1.375 billion
  14. Washington Wizards: $1.35 billion
  15. Cleveland Cavaliers: $1.325 billion
  16. Portland Trail Blazers: $1.3 billion
  17. Phoenix Suns: $1.28 billion
  18. Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.25 billion
  19. Orlando Magic: $1.225 billion
  20. Utah Jazz: $1.2 billion
  21. Philadelphia 76ers: $1.18 billion
  22. Indiana Pacers: $1.175 billion
  23. Atlanta Hawks: $1.15 billion
  24. Denver Nuggets: $1.125 billion
  25. Detroit Pistons: $1.1 billion
  26. Milwaukee Bucks: $1.075 billion
  27. Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.06 billion
  28. Charlotte Hornets: $1.05 billion
  29. Memphis Grizzlies: $1.025 billion
  30. New Orleans Pelicans: $1 billion

For comparison’s sake, Forbes’ 2017 valuations can be found right here.

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Pelicans Sign DeAndre Liggins To Two-Year Deal

February 5th, 2018 at 11:59am CST by marksuleymanov

FEBRUARY 5: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Liggins, the team announced today in a press release. The club now has a full 15-man roster once again.

FEBRUARY 4: The Pelicans are bringing back guard DeAndre Liggins on a two-year deal, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Liggins has inked a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pelicans already this season, with the most recent one expiring late in January. Woj noted that Liggins’ perimeter defense impressed the Pelicans, paving the way for a guaranteed contract.

Liggins, 29, started the season with the Bucks after a merry-go-round of an offseason. He was traded from the Mavericks to the Rockets; traded to the Hawks and waived; claimed by the Heat and waived; and finally claimed off waivers by the Bucks.

In 31 games in Milwaukee, Liggins averaged just 1.8 PPG. In four games with the Pelicans during his two 10-day deals, Liggins averaged 4.3 PPG.

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