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Hoops Rumors Features

Hoops Rumors passes along the latest news and rumors on NBA player movement 365 days a year, but those aren't the only updates you'll see on the site. On our right sidebar, you'll find a number of additional features and featured posts. Here's a rundown of a few of them:

  • We're still keeping a close eye on free agency with the help of our list of 2013 free agents. If you want to look ahead to the summer of 2014, we've rounded up those free agents as well. Both lists will continue to be modified as needed.
  • Our Free Agent Tracker, which features data sortable by team, position, contract years, and contract amount, has been continually updated to include all of this summer's deals.
  • Free agents aren't the only players signing contracts. This year's draft picks are also inking their deals, and we've broken down the likely salaries for first-round picks, while we continue to follow which prospects have been locked up and which remain unsigned.
  • Not all the players currently on NBA rosters have guaranteed deals. We've provided a schedule of contract guarantee dates so you can keep track of when teams will have to make decisions on those non-guaranteed players.
  • As players like John Wall and Larry Sanders lock up new deals with their current teams, we'll continue to examine this offseason's other extension-eligible players in our Extension Candidate series.
  • Our agency database is a handy reference point for determining the representation for virtually every NBA player.
  • Using our 10-day contract tracker, you can find any 10-day contract signed since 2007, sorting by player, team, year, and other variables.
  • On Mondays at 4:00pm CT, I answer readers' questions in a live chat. These weekly live chats are on hiatus for the time being, but will return next month as training camp approaches. In the meantime, you can check out transcripts of our past live discussions here.
  • Our list of outstanding traded player exceptions is updated whenever a trade exception is created, is used, or expires.
  • We're tracking teams' amnesty provisions — using our complete list, you can check to see which clubs have used the amnesty clause and which will have it available next summer.
  • The Hoops Rumors glossary helps explain some of the more complex concepts in the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement.
  • Zach Links rounds up the best of the blogosphere every Sunday in his weekly Hoops Links feature.
  • If you're looking to catch up on a few days worth of content, our Week in Review posts round up the week's news and rumors, while our Hoops Rumors Originals posts recap the site's original content for the week. Both round-ups are published every Sunday.
  • Be sure to check out the Featured Posts section on the right sidebar for more original pieces from the Hoops Rumors writing team. Recently, we explored the concept of the salary floor as it relates to the 76ers, examined how the NBA's 30 teams have used their mid-level exceptions, and took a closer look at the league's head coaching carousel.

Largest Pay Cuts From 2012/13 To 2013/14

For some of this summer's free agents, hitting the market meant landing a significant raise, or at least landing another salary in line with a player's previous pay rate. But of course, not all of the offseason's free agents were so lucky.

Due to declining skill, decreasing demand for certain skill-sets, a willingness to take a discount to land in the right situation, or a combination of all of the above, plenty of players signed for a much smaller salary for 2013/14 than they earned in 2012/13. Here's a breakdown of the free agents taking pay cuts of $5MM+ for the coming season:

Devin Harris
2012/13: $8,500,000
2013/14: $1,272,279
Difference: $7,227,721

Manu Ginobili
2012/13: $14,107,491
2013/14: $7,500,000
Difference: $6,607,491

Andrei Kirilenko
2012/13: $9,779,349
2013/14: $3,183,000
Difference: $6,596,349

Beno Udrih
2012/13: $7,372,200
2013/14: $1,272,279
Difference: $6,099,921

Kevin Martin
2012/13: $12,439,675
2013/14: $6,500,000
Difference: $5,939,675

Mo Williams
2012/13: $8,500,000
2013/14: $2,652,000
Difference: $5,848,000

In addition to the players who have already signed deals, a few free agents who earned big salaries a year ago remain on the market, and are mortal locks to take pay cuts of more than $5MM. Here's that list:

Corey Maggette (2012/13: $10,924,138)
Lamar Odom (2012/13: $8,200,000)
DeSagana Diop (2012/13: $7,372,200)

The players listed above represent the guys taking the most significant pay cuts, but there are a few other free agents deserving of an honorable mention — or a dishonorable mention, depending on your perspective.

Andrew Bynum, coming off a $16,889,000 salary, is in line for $12,250,000 if he remains on the Cavs' roster for the full season. That in itself represents a pretty noticeable decrease in salary, but Bynum's pay cut could be even more significant, since only $6MM of his salary is guaranteed. If the Cavs release him before his deal becomes fully guaranteed, he'd be taking a pay cut of more than $10MM, putting him at the top of this list.

A pair of amnestied players are also technically taking major pay cuts this year, as Elton Brand's and Baron Davis' salaries are no longer being paid by their old teams. Still, since Davis was out of the NBA last year, and the Mavericks paid Brand a modest $2,100,500 salary, their salaries for cap and tax purposes aren't undergoing major changes from '12/13 to '13/14.

Other notables include Chris Kaman, Francisco Garcia, Nick Young, and Jose Calderon, who all took pay cuts of $4MM+, as well as Luke Walton and Daniel Gibson, who remain unsigned after earning about $6.09MM and $4.79MM respectively.

Storytellers Contracts and ShamSports were used in the creation of this post.

Hoops Rumors Agency Database

If you missed it when we unveiled it earlier this year, be sure to check out Hoops Rumors' new Agency Database. Over the last several months, we have attempted to identify and confirm the representation for each current NBA player, as well as many players who have appeared in the league recently.

Our Agency Database can be found anytime on the right sidebar under the "Hoops Rumors Features" menu. It can also be sorted and filtered by player, team, and agency to easily find a variety of information. For instance, if you're interested in finding the representation for the players currently on the Knicks' roster, you can filter by team to create this list. Our data should, for the most part, be updated to reflect the latest offseason signings and trades.

As players change agencies, such as Monta Ellis recently opting to leave Jeff Fried of Peake Management Group for Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports, we note those moves in the database. We are continuing to work toward making the database 100% complete and accurate, so if you have any info on corrections or omissions, please email us at hoopsdatabase@gmail.com.

Important Dates For The 2013/14 NBA Season

The NBA’s 2013/14 regular season and preseason schedules were announced earlier this month, but for our purposes at Hoops Rumors, the dates that were unveiled by the league today are more noteworthy (hat tip to Hardwood Paroxysm). Here’s a list of a few of the more important days on the NBA’s 2013/14 calendar, including ones announced today and ones we already knew about:

August 31: Last day for teams to release players using the stretch provision.

September 6: Second-round draft picks become free agents if not tendered a contract offer.
September 27
: Media day for teams playing preseason games overseas.
September 30: Media day for the rest of the NBA’s teams.

October 28: Last day of the offseason. Roster size reduced to 15-player maximum (from 20). Last day to make sign-and-trade transactions, and last day to waive non-guaranteed summer contracts.
October 31
: Last day rookie scale contracts can be extended, and last day option years on rookie contracts for the 2014/15 season can be exercised.

December 15: Most players who signed new contracts this offseason (on or before September 15th) can be traded as of this date.

January 6: Teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts.
January 10
: Players still on non-guaranteed contracts have their contracts guaranteed for the remainder of the season. Players must clear waivers by this date to avoid having their deals guaranteed.
January 15
: Players with Bird or Early Bird rights who re-signed with their own over-the-cap team (on or before October 15th) and received at least a 20% raise can be traded as of this date. For instance, Tiago Splitter would be eligible to be dealt as of January 15th, rather than December 15th.

February 14-16: All-Star weekend in New Orleans.
February 20: Trade deadline.

March 1: Players released after this date are ineligible for the postseason if they sign with a new team.

April 16: Last day of regular season. Last day players can sign contracts for 2013/14. Luxury tax figures are determined using team salary on this day.

May 20: Draft lottery.

June 26: 2014 NBA draft.

Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Hoops Rumors On Facebook/Twitter/RSS

With plenty of potentially productive free agents still unsigned and a number of extension candidates in talks on new deals, there should be a number of notable stories to follow on Hoops Rumors before opening night. There are a handful of different ways you can follow us to keep tabs on the latest NBA news and rumors this summer and throughout the year.

You can Like us on Facebook, and receive headlines and links for all our posts via your Facebook account. You can also follow us on Twitter to have all our posts and updates sent directly to your Twitter feed. And our RSS feed is located here, if you'd like to follow us using your RSS reader of choice.

If you prefer to receive updates only on roster moves such as signings, cuts, and trades, you can follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.

Hoops Rumors’ 2013 Free Agent Tracker

If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out Hoops Rumors' 2013 Free Agent Tracker. Using our tracker, you can quickly browse the offseason's contract agreements, sorting by team, position, contract length, total salary, and a handful of other variables.

For instance, if you want to see all the Clippers' summer signings, you can sort by team and find all of the club's free agent additions listed here. If you're curious to see how many players signed contracts of four years or more, you can sort by contract length and bring up that list right here.

A few additional notes on the tracker:

  • Not all of the agreements listed in the tracker are finalized yet. As signings become official, we'll continue to update and modify the data as needed. This also means that many of the dollar figures listed in the tracker won't be 100% accurate yet.
  • Contract amounts aren't necessarily fully guaranteed, and are based on what's been reported to date.
  • Training-camp invites will be included in the tracker. At this point, most teams haven't announced any camp invitees yet, so we'll do our best to determine which players are receiving actual NBA contracts and which guys are just receiving so-called "summer contracts." Summer contracts will be marked with a † symbol.

Our Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar under "Hoops Rumors Features" or at the top of the page in the "Tools" menu. It will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Western Notes: Janning, Wolves, Lakers, Kobe

Here are a few Thursday afternoon items from around the Western Conference:

  • After Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweeted last night that former Northeastern guard Matt Janning would work out for the Timberwolves, Shams Charania of RealGM.com confirmed (via Twitter) that the workout happened today. While he could receive a camp invite from the Wolves (Twitter link via Wolfson), Janning has an agreement in place with a Croatian team, and Charania suggests he probably won't receive enough NBA interest to pull out of that deal.
  • In a conversation with Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld, J.J. Barea raved about the Timberwolves' offseason moves and expressed confidence about the team's 2013/14 season.
  • In a piece for the Hollywood Reporter, Ric Bucher quotes Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss as saying Dwight Howard was "never really a Laker," and that D12 was "just passing through."
  • Asked whether he expects Kobe Bryant to be a Laker three year from now, GM Mitch Kupchak replied, "If he can play at a high level, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't be" (Twitter link via Mark Willard of ESPN LA 710).
  • After speaking to executives around the NBA, ESPN.com's Chris Broussard (Insider link) names Stephen Curry as one of his dark-horse MVP candidates for next season.

Remaining Unsigned 2013 Draft Picks

Over the last several weeks, we've been keeping tabs on the NBA contracts signed by this year's first- and second-round draft picks. Because first-rounders are subject to the NBA's rookie scale, typically there isn't much negotiation required, so most of 2013's top picks have been locked up. However, for second-rounders, the outlook is a little murkier. This year's late selections have signed for a wide variety of years and dollars with their respective NBA clubs or with teams overseas.

So far, 24 of this season's 30 first-round picks have signed with their NBA clubs, while one (Lucas Nogueira) is set to spend another year in Spain. These five first-rounders remain unsigned:

  • Anthony Bennett, Cavaliers (1)
  • Alex Len, Suns (5)
  • Nerlens Noel, Sixers (6)
  • Michael Carter-Williams, Sixers (11)
  • Livio Jean-Charles, Spurs (28)

In some cases it makes sense that these players haven't signed yet. The Sixers, for instance, still have a significant chunk of cap space available, and can maximize that room by keeping Noel's and Carter-Williams' cap holds on the books, rather than their final salaries (which will likely be 20% higher). Philadelphia will eventually sign the two lottery picks, but for now the team continues to maintain as much flexibility as possible, should a trade opportunity arise.

As for Jean-Charles, he appears likely to play overseas in 2013/14, so it's not surprising that he hasn't signed with the Spurs. It's not entirely clear why Bennett and Len haven't signed yet, but like the aforementioned Sixers duo, it'll just be a matter of time.

Here are the second-rounders who have yet to sign and aren't confirmed to be spending 2013/14 overseas:

  • Grant Jerrett, Thunder (40)
  • Marko Todorovic, Rockets (45)
  • Raul Neto, Jazz (47)
  • Ryan Kelly, Lakers (48)
  • Romero Osby, Magic (51)
  • Lorenzo Brown, Timberwolves (52)
  • Deshaun Thomas, Spurs (58)
  • Janis Timma, Grizzlies (60)

None of these players are assured of NBA roster spots this year, and in fact, it looks like many of them will end up playing elsewhere. Todorovic will likely remain with FC Barcelona, the Jazz may not have a spot available for Neto, Thomas is reportedly close to signing in Spain, and there probably won't be room for Timma in Memphis, where the Grizzlies already have 17 players under contract.

Brown appears to be a good bet to participate in training camp with the Timberwolves, with a chance to earn the team's 15th roster spot, and the Magic may extend the same opportunity to Osby. In that case, the Wolves and Magic would lose Brown's and Osby's respective NBA rights if they don't make the teams' regular-season rosters.

For Jerrett, his NBA future figures to depend on how many of their non-guaranteed players the Thunder decide to retain for next season. The club only has 12 players on guaranteed contracts, but Hasheem Thabeet, Daniel Orton, DeAndre Liggins, and Ryan Gomes all have non-guaranteed deals. Meanwhile, we haven't heard much about Kelly and the Lakers, but L.A. should definitely have room for him, depending on what other moves the team makes this offseason.

Silver Talks About PED Use In NBA

Performance enhancing drugs are an ongoing problem in contemporary professional sports, and according to Adam Silver, the NBA's deputy commissioner, the league will look to combat such drugs as human growth hormone (HGH) with blood testing in the future, writes New York Post reporter Tim Bontemps. The league does not currently test for HGH.

As Major League Baseball continues to battle through its own ongoing Biogenesis scandal, Silver says that, as far as he's aware, the NBA doesn't have any players involved. But even though the NBA has the same penalty structure as baseball, the implementation of HGH testing can't happen until the NBA Player's Association hires a new executive director and names a new president, something they're still in the process of completing. 

Team Facebook/Twitter/RSS

If you want to keep tabs on all of Hoops Rumors' stories and updates, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or subscribe to our feed through your RSS reader of choice. However, if you prefer to only receive news about your favorite NBA team, we have you covered. Below are links to our Facebook, Twitter, and RSS pages and feeds for all 30 teams.

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