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John Wall became the latest NBA player to get a maximum-salary contract this week, signing a lucrative extension with the Wizards that will kick in for the 2014/15 season. The deal puts Wall among an elite group, even though it's a collection of players that doesn't quite register as a "Who's Who" of NBA stars. Only half of the 16 players with max deals are among the 15 players who made All-NBA teams this past season. The most notable exception is LeBron James, who took less than the max to sign with Miami in 2010 and has given the Heat two titles and two MVP seasons on a discount.

Kobe Bryant, another First Team All-NBA selection, will be the highest-paid player in the NBA this coming season, due a whopping $30,453,805 salary. Still, the three-year extension he's finishing up this year wasn't worth quite as much as he could have earned. He made $24,806,250 in 2010/11, the final season under the initial terms of his contract. The Lakers could have given him an extension with a 10.5% raise for 2011/12 under the terms of the old collective bargaining agreement, but they gave him a roughly 1.8% raise instead.

The maximum salary isn't a static figure, as Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors explained last year. Instead, different players qualify for different maxes depending on their years of service, what they made on their previous contracts, and whether they re-sign with their old teams or jump to new ones. Some of the terms defining the maximum salary changed under the new CBA, causing yet more variance among the value of the max contracts on the books. Marc Gasol's deal, worth about $57.5MM, is for the max, just like Joe Johnson's nearly $124MM contract.

Technically, the Grizzlies could have signed Gasol for five years instead of four, but because the salaries he's earning in each year of the contract are the greatest amounts they could have given him, we'll count Gasol as a max player. There's quite a bit of gray area when it comes to determining who's getting the max, including negotiable points like options, trade kickers, and no-trade clauses, all of which can make an offer more or less attractive. In spite of those caveats, here's a list of the existing max players in the NBA, in descending order of contract value:

• Joe Johnson, Nets — Six years, $123,658,089: Signed in July 2010 to a starting salary worth 30% of the salary cap, with raises worth 10.5% of the starting salary.
• Chris Paul, Clippers — Five years, $107,343,475: Signed in July 2013 to a starting salary worth 105% of his 2012/13 pay, with raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.
• Deron Williams, Nets — Five years, $98,772,325: Signed in July 2012 to a starting salary worth 105% of his 2011/12 pay, with raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.
• Blake Griffin, Clippers — Five years, $94,538,626: Signed in July 2012 to a rookie-scale extension, and qualified for a starting salary worth 30% of the salary cap via the Derrick Rose rule. Deal includes raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.
• Derrick Rose, Bulls — Five years, $94,314,380: Signed in December 2011 to a rookie-scale extension, and qualified for a starting salary worth 30% of the salary cap via the eponymous Derrick Rose rule. Deal includes raises worth 7.5% raises of the starting salary.
• Kevin Durant, Thunder — Five years, $89,163,134: Signed in July 2010 to a rookie-scale extension, and qualified for a starting salary worth 30% of the salary cap via the Derrick Rose rule. Deal includes raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.¹
• Dwight Howard, Rockets — Four years, $87,591,270: Signed in July 2013 to a starting salary worth 105% of his 2012/13 pay, with raises worth 4.5% of the starting salary.
• Rudy Gay, Raptors — Five years, $82,302,690: Signed in July 2010 to a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 10.5% of the starting salary.²
• James Harden, Rockets — Five years, $78,782,188: Signed in October 2012 to a rookie scale extension with a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.
• Russell Westbrook, Thunder — Five years, $78,595,312: Signed in January 2012 to a rookie-scale extension with a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.³
• Carmelo Anthony, Knicks — Three years, $67,222,422: Signed an extension with a starting salary worth 110.5% of his 2011/12 pay, with raises worth 10.5% of the starting salary.⁴
• Kevin Love, Timberwolves — Four years, $60,825,938: Signed in January 2012 to a rookie-scale extension with a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.⁵
• Eric Gordon, Pelicans — Four years, $58,365,563: Signed an offer sheet in July 2012 with the Suns with a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 4.5% of the starting salary. The Pelicans matched.
• Roy Hibbert, Pacers — Four years, $58,365,563: Signed in July 2012 to a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 4.5% of the starting salary.⁶
• Marc Gasol, Grizzlies — Four years, $57,503,764: Signed in December 2011 to a starting salary worth 25% of the salary cap, with raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.⁷
• John Wall, Wizards — Five years, TBA: Signed in July 2013 to a starting salary worth either 25% or 30% of the salary cap, depending on whether he qualifies for the Derrick Rose rule. The deal will have raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.

Notes

1. Durant and the Thunder agreed to the extension before the Derrick Rose rule came into existence, and the league recently decided to give the Thunder about half the difference between the 30% max Durant is making and the 25% max he would have gotten if the Rose rule didn't exist. Durant is also getting raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary in the extension, rather than the 10.5% he could have gotten under the terms of the CBA in place when the deal was struck.
2. Gay's deal could have been for six years.
3. Westbrook qualified for a starting salary worth 30% of the salary cap through the Derrick Rose rule, but his agreement with the Thunder held that he would receive a starting salary worth 25% of the cap regardless.
4. Anthony's extension could have been for five years.
5. Love's extension could have been for five years.
6. Hibbert agreed to sign an offer sheet with the Blazers for the most Portland (or any team other than the Pacers) could have given him, but the Pacers indicated they would match. Rather than sign the offer sheet, Hibbert simply inked a contract with the same terms from the Pacers, who could have given him five years and raises worth 7.5% of the starting salary.
7. Gasol's deal could have been for five years.

ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.

For teams still in need of outside shooting help, the pickings on the free agent market have gotten slim. The summer's top available shooters, like J.J. Redick and Kyle Korver, quickly landed lucrative long-term contracts, while mid-level types like Chase Budinger, Randy Foye, and Mike Dunleavy were also snapped up in short order.

Even less expensive players like Wayne Ellington, Dorell Wright, Mike Miller, Francisco Garcia, and others are off the board, with seemingly half of them headed to Houston to surround Dwight Howard with shooters. So for a team like the Thunder, who missed out on a few of the aforementioned guys, there aren't many attractive options left. Oklahoma City reached an agreement with Ryan Gomes this week, and while Gomes is cheap and has a career .350 3PT%, he also hasn't appeared in an NBA game since March 2012.

For the Thunder and other clubs in search of more shooting, which free agents still on the board might be fits? Listed below are the free agents with the best 2012/13 three-point percentages. At least 50 three-point attempts are required to qualify for this list, to avoid too-small sample sizes. Here are the top 15, with their '12/13 3PT% in parentheses:

1. Royal Ivey (.420)
2. Roger Mason Jr. (.415)
3. Cartier Martin (.397)
4. Mike James (.384)
5. Mo Williams (.383)
6. Darius Morris (.364)
7. Chris Duhon (.363)
8. Antawn Jamison (.361)
9. A.J. Price (.350)
10. Luke Babbitt (.348)
11. Daniel Gibson (.344)
12. Jeremy Pargo (.338)
13. Anthony Tolliver (.338)
14. Jerry Stackhouse (.337)
15. Jannero Pargo (.336)

Honorable mention:

• Leandro Barbosa's .383 3PT% would have been good enough to qualify if he'd had a few more than 47 attempts.
• Several players considered solid shooters didn't qualify, either because they're in decline, they didn't get a chance to play, or they simply had an off year. Among them: Richard Hamilton, Matt Carroll, Mickael Pietrus, and Daequan Cook.

Had Brandon Jennings re-signed with the Bucks on a long-term deal, he had a good chance to become the team's highest-paid player for the 2013/14 season, since the club's current highest salary for the season is just $8MM. After Milwaukee agreed to send Jennings to Detroit in a sign-and-trade deal though, it appears the list of highest-paid players by team for 2013/14 has been set.

Of the remaining available free agents, only Nikola Pekovic has a real chance to land the sort of contract that would make him a club's highest-paid player. However, he's viewed as a near-lock to return to the Timberwolves, in which case he's not likely to challenge Kevin Love's $14.69MM '13/14 salary.

Listed below are the highest-paid players and runners-up by team for 2013/14, along with the player to whom the club has committed the most long-term guaranteeed money. For our purposes, player options and early termination options are considered guaranteed salary, while team options aren't. Amnesty victims also won't be considered here, though if they rank among the team's highest-paid players for '13/14, we'll note it at the bottom of the page.

Here's the full list:

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.
• A restricted free agent who has agreed to an offer sheet won't be listed as "signed" until his current team decides whether to match the offer. For instance, if Brandon Jennings were to sign an offer sheet with a rival team, he wouldn't be listed as "signed" until we heard whether or not the Bucks had matched the offer.

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.

More players have signed for the bi-annual exception this summer than in any offseason since 2009. Still, few teams in recent years have made use of the tool that's available to every club with a team salary between the cap and the luxury tax apron.

This year, the bi-annual allows for a starting salary of up to $2.016MM. Contracts can be for two seasons, with a 4.5% raise allowed for year two. Nate Robinson and the Nuggets, Eric Maynor and the Wizards, and C.J. Watson and the Pacers have all agreed to the full amount. The Warriors and Jermaine O'Neal struck a one-year deal for $2MM, just a shade under the full bi-annual amount. There's dispute over whether the Timberwolves used the bi-annual for Ronny Turiaf's new contract. Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld has Turiaf's two-year, $3MM deal down for a partial amount of the bi-annual, while Mark Deeks of ShamSports lists him as having signed for part of the mid-level exception. 

Either way, that's the most bi-annual signings we've seen in a while, and there could be more on the way. The trend won't necessarily continue, since, as the name suggests, teams can't use the bi-annual two years in a row. As more teams use the bi-annual this year, fewer will be eligible to do so next year.

Here's a look at the use of bi-annual exception over the last several years. The use of the term "full amount" below refers to the starting salary, as some of those players signed for the maximum two years while others took only a one-year deal.

2013/14

• Nuggets — Gave the full amount to Nate Robinson
• Wizards — Gave the full amount to Eric Maynor
• Timberwolves — Gave a partial amount to Ronny Turiaf¹
• Warriors — Gave a partial amount to Jermaine O'Neal
• Pacers — Gave the full amount to C.J. Watson 

2012/13

• Bulls — Gave the full amount to Marco Belinelli
• Spurs — Gave a partial amount to Nando De Colo
• Clippers — Gave the full amount to Grant Hill

2011/12

• Raptors — Gave the full amount to Gary Forbes
• Grizzlies — Gave the full amount to Jeremy Pargo

2010/11

• Pistons — Gave the full amount to Ben Wallace
• Bucks — Gave the full amount to Keyon Dooling

2009/10

• Celtics — Gave the full amount to Marquis Daniels
• Bulls — Gave the full amount to Jannero Pargo
• Bobcats — Gave the full amount to Ronald Murray
• Cavaliers — Gave the full amount to Zydrunas Ilgauskas²
• Pacers — Gave a partial amount to Solomon Jones
• Lakers — Gave the full amount to Shannon Brown
• Timberwolves — Gave a partial amount to Sasha Pavlovic
• Raptors — Gave the full amount to Rasho Nesterovic
• Wizards — Gave the full amount to Fabricio Oberto

2008/09

• Rockets — Gave the full amount to Brent Barry
• Bucks — Gave a partial amount to Francisco Elson
• Nets — Gave the full amount to Jarvis Hayes
• Magic — Gave the full amount to Anthony Johnson

2007/08

• Mavericks — Gave the full amount to Eddie Jones
• Pelicans — Gave the full amount to Jannero Pargo
• Suns — Gave the full amount to Grant Hill
• Raptors — Gave the full amount to Maceo Baston

2006/07

• Pistons — Gave full amount to Ronald Murray
• Clippers — Gave full amount to Aaron Williams
• Lakers — Gave full amount to Shammond Williams
• Knicks — Gave a prorated amount to Randolph Morris²
• Sixers — Gave a partial amount to Shavlik Randolph
• Kings — Gave a partial amount to Loren Woods

1. There are conflicting reports over whether the Timberwolves used the bi-annual exception for Turiaf's deal. See the introduction above.
2. The bi-annual exception begins to prorate downward on January 10th. Ilgauskas and Morris signed after that date. 

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

Our Free Agent Tracker runs down the signings that have taken place this summer, but it doesn’t cover trades. That’s where this post comes in. As we’ve done with last year’s offseason trades and the moves during 2012/13, we’ll list all of the trades that have gone down this summer here.

Together with the free agent tracker and the 2013 draft results, you can see the full picture of the movement across the NBA landscape over the past month. For up-to-the-minute news on trades as well as other roster moves as the offseason continues, follow our transactions-only feeds via RSS and Twitter.

The moves are listed in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been traded multiple times (as often happens with draft picks), the first team listed as acquiring him here is the one that currently holds his rights.

October 25th

• Wizards acquire Marcin Gortat, Shannon Brown, Kendall Marshall, and Malcolm Lee.
• Suns acquire Emeka Okafor and a top-12 protected 2014 first-round pick.

August 29th

• Bucks acquire Caron Butler
• Suns acquire Viacheslav Kravtsov and Ish Smith

August 22nd

• Sixers acquire Tony Wroten.
• Grizzlies acquire future second-round pick.

August 15th

• Celtics acquire Donte Greene.
• Grizzlies acquire Fab Melo and $1.66MM cash.

July 31st

• Pistons acquire Brandon Jennings (sign-and-trade).
• Bucks acquire Brandon Knight, Viacheslav Kravtsov and Khris Middleton.

July 27th

• Pacers acquire Luis Scola.
• Suns acquire Miles Plumlee, Gerald Green, and a lottery-protected 2014 first-round pick.

July 22nd

• Grizzlies acquire the draft rights to Nick Calathes.
• Mavericks acquire fully unprotected 2016 second-round pick (the pick had been top-55 protected).

July 13th

• Sixers acquire Royce White, Furkan Aldemir and cash.
• Rockets acquire future draft considerations.

July 12th

• Kings acquire Luc Mbah a Moute.
• Bucks acquire a 2016 second-round pick and the right to swap 2018 second-round picks with the Kings.

July 12th

• Nets acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and D.J. White.
• Celtics acquire Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans (sign-and-trade), a 2014 first-round pick, a 2016 first-round pick, a 2018 first-round pick, and the right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in 2017.

July 12th

• Pelicans acquire Jrue Holiday and 2013 No. 42 pick (Pierre Jackson).
• Sixers acquire 2013 No. 6 pick (Nerlens Noel) and a 2014 first-round pick.

July 11th

• Timberwolves acquire Kevin Martin (sign-and-trade) and cash (from Thunder)
• Bucks acquire Luke Ridnour and a 2014 second-round pick (from Timberwolves)
• Thunder acquire Szymon Szewczyk (from Bucks).

July 10th

• Warriors acquire Andre Iguodala (sign-and-trade from Nuggets) and Kevin Murphy (from Jazz).
• Nuggets acquire Randy Foye (sign-and-trade from Jazz) and a 2018 second-round pick (from Warriors).
• Jazz acquire Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush, a 2014 first-round pick (from Warriors) a 2017 first-round pick (from Warriors), a 2016 second-round pick (from Warriors), a 2017 second-round pick (from Warriors), a 2018 second-round pick (from Nuggets), and cash (from Warriors).

July 10th

• Pelicans acquire Tyreke Evans (sign-and-trade from Kings) and Jeff Withey (from Trail Blazers).
• Trail Blazers acquire Robin Lopez and Terrel Harris (from Pelicans).
• Kings acquire Greivis Vasquez (from Pelicans), a 2016 second-round pick (from Trail Blazers) and future second-round considerations (from Trail Blazers).

July 10th

• Suns acquire Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler (from Clippers).
• Clippers acquire J.J. Redick (sign-and-trade from Bucks) and Jared Dudley (from Suns).
• Bucks acquire a 2014 second-round pick (from Suns) and a 2015 second-round pick (from Clippers).

July 10th

• Knicks acquire Andrea Bargnani.
• Raptors acquire Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson (sign-and-trade), a 2016 first-round pick, a 2014 second-round pick and a 2017 second-round pick.

July 10th

• Trail Blazers acquire Thomas Robinson
• Rockets acquire the rights to Kostas Papanikolaou and Marko Todorovic, a 2015 second-round pick, and a 2017 second-round pick.

June 27th

• Grizzlies acquire Kosta Koufos
• Nuggets acquire Darrell Arthur and 2013 No. 55 pick (Joffrey Lauvergne).

June 27th

• Celtics acquire 2013 No. 53 pick (Colton Iverson).
• Pacers acquire cash.

June 27th

• Heat acquire 2013 No. 50 pick (James Ennis).
• Hawks acquire a future second-round pick.

June 27th

• Jazz acquire 2013 No. 47 pick (Raul Neto).
• Hawks acquire a future second-round pick.

June 27th

• Thunder acquire 2013 No. 40 pick (Grant Jerrett).
• Trail Blazers acquire cash.

June 27th

• Mavericks acquire 2013 No. 43 pick (Ricky Ledo).
• Sixers acquire a 2014 second-round pick.

June 27th

• Bucks acquire 2013 No. 38 pick (Nate Wolters).
• Sixers acquire 2013 No. 43 pick (Ricky Ledo) and a future second-round pick.

June 27th

• Wizards acquire 2013 No. 35 pick (Glen Rice Jr.).
• Sixers acquire 2013 No. 38 pick (Nate Wolters) and 2013 No. 54 pick (Arsalan Kazemi).

June 27th

• Trail Blazers acquire 2013 No. 31 pick (Allen Crabbe).
• Cavaliers acquire two future second-round picks.

June 27th

• Hawks acquire Jared Cunningham, 2013 No. 16 pick (Lucas Nogueira) and the 2013 No. 44 pick (Mike Muscala).
• Mavericks acquire 2013 No. 18 pick (Shane Larkin).

June 27th

• Celtics acquire 2013 No. 13 pick (Kelly Olynyk).
• Mavericks acquire 2013 No. 16 pick (Lucas Nogueira) and two future second-round picks.

June 27th

• Jazz acquire 2013 No. 9 pick (Trey Burke).
• Timberwolves acquire No. 14 pick (Shabazz Muhammad) and pick No. 21 (Gorgui Dieng).

June 27th

• Suns acquire Malcolm Lee and 2013 No. 29 pick (Archie Goodwin).
• Warriors acquire 2013 No. 30 pick (Nemanja Nedovic).

June 27th

• Thunder acquire 2013 No. 26 pick (Andre Roberson).
• Warriors acquire 2013 No. 29 pick (Archie Goodwin) and $1MM cash.

June 27th

• Warriors acquire 2013 No. 26 pick (Andre Roberson) and Malcolm Lee.
• Timberwolves acquire a 2014 second-round pick and $1.6MM cash.

June 27th

• Jazz acquire 2013 No. 27 pick (Rudy Gobert).
• Nuggets acquire 2013 No. 46 pick (Erick Green) and cash.

June 25th

• Clippers acquire coach Doc Rivers.
• Celtics acquire a 2015 first-round draft pick.

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.
• Speaking of those signings, you can read up on plenty of specific free agent cases in our Free Agent Stock Watch series. The series still includes a number of players who haven't signed, including DeJuan Blair, Greg Oden, Mo Williams, and others.
• 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.
• We previewed all 30 teams' summers in our Offseason Outlook series. If you missed it the first time around, you can revisit our forecasts for each team with the hindsight of knowing what moves each club has made.
• 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. You can check out transcripts of our past live discussions here.
• 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 listed the players eligible for rookie-scale contract extensions, explained the subtle value of three-year contracts, and looked ahead to 2014's amnesty candidates.

There were only a dozen restricted free agents when the month began, and that number shrank by one when the Pacers pulled their qualifying offer to Tyler Hansbrough on July 2nd, making him an unrestricted free agent. Hansbrough wound up signing with the Raptors for a two-year, $6MM contract. Tuesday is the deadline for teams to rescind qualifying offers without the consent of the player, but that's only relevant for the five restricted free agents who remain unsigned. Here's a look at the latest on each of those five, as well as the details on the restricted free agents who've already signed this month, with an assist from the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Tracker.

• Chris Copeland — Signed a two-year, $6.135MM offer sheet with the Pacers. The Knicks declined to match.
• Tyreke Evans — Signed-and-traded to the Pelicans as part of a three-way deal. Evans' new contract is worth four years and $44MM.
• Gerald Henderson — A report earlier this month suggested that the Bobcats had begun shopping Henderson, since the two sides had reached a stalemate. Since then, we've heard the team still wants to bring him back and the two sides remain in communication, even though the 'Cats and agent Arn Tellem are far apart on financial terms. Tellem and Henderson are reportedly seeking a contract worth around $8MM annually.
• Brandon Jennings — The Jeff Schwartz client has reportedly been seeking $12MM a year, while the Bucks have apparently been willing to do just a bit over $11MM. Though Jennings isn't interested in returning to Milwaukee, he may not have a choice, as other teams' cap room is beginning to dry up. Both Jennings and the team see a sign-and-trade as the ideal outcome, but it may be more likely that Jennings signs his one-year qualifying offer.
• Timofey Mozgov — The Nuggets and the Justin Zanik client have discussed a multiyear deal, and GM Tim Connelly indicated earlier this month that they're making progress. Mozgov is drawing overseas offers, but his preference is to stay in the NBA. Most recently, the Kings have intensified their interest.
• Gary Neal — It seemed at one point this month that Neal was unlikely to return to San Antonio, but other reports have suggested the opposite. The Bucks have shown interest.
• Nikola Pekovic — The Wolves extended the Excel Sports Management client an offer, believed to be worth around four years and $50MM, and the two sides have been moving slowly after Pekovic's camp responded with a counter-offer. Owner Glen Taylor still expects to strike a deal.
• Pablo Prigioni — Re-signed with the Knicks for five years, $4,988,883
• Robert Sacre — Re-signed with the Lakers for three years at the minimum salary.
• Tiago Splitter — Re-signed with the Spurs to a four-year, $36MM deal.
• Jeff Teague — Signed four-year, $32MM offer sheet with the Bucks that the Hawks matched.

I examined the case of Chris Copeland earlier tonight in my look at the subtle value of three-year contracts, noting that his performance on a minimum-salary contract this past season merited a healthy raise in his new contract with the Pacers. He was far from the only player on a minimum-salary deal who outperformed his paycheck last season, as others who've hit free agency have reaped even larger rewards.

No minimum-salary player from last season wound up with as much of a raise as Keith Bogans, who wound up with a three-year, $15.857MM deal in a sign-and-trade arrangement. Only the first season is guaranteed, but Bogans will make $5,058,198 this year with the Celtics, quite a bump in pay, especially considering his play last season didn't really call for it. He received the bloated contract for salary-matching purposes in the Nets/Celtics trade involving Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Others on the list are more deserving of their new deals, and some will still be bargains. Andray Blatche's reported $1.4MM salary figure for the coming season is only a little more than $100K above the minimum for an eight-year vet like him. That's surprising, considering his strong play off the bench for the Nets last season and the interest that multiple teams showed in him this summer.

The players who made the minimum last year and agreed to deals for more than the minimum this summer are listed below, ranked in order of the average annual value of their new contracts. Some of the deals aren't yet official, so it's possible the salary figures seen here could change.

• Keith Bogans, Celtics: three years, $15.857MM 
• Chase Budinger, Timberwolves: three years, $15MM
• Matt Barnes, Clippers: three years, $10,188,750
• Chris Copeland, Pacers: two years, $6.135MM
• DeMarre Carroll, Hawks: two years, $5MM
• C.J. Watson, Pacers: two years, $4.093MM
• Jermaine O'Neal, Warriors: one year, $2.016MM 
• Pablo Prigioni, Knicks: three years, $4.989MM
• Ronny Turiaf, Timberwolves: two years, $3.2MM
• Quentin Richardson, Raptors: three years, $4,347,184
• Andray Blatche: Nets: two years, $2.813MM

ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.

A check of the Hoops Rumors Free Agent Tracker shows several players have agreed to three-year deals this summer, but not all of the names are well-known. At first blush, it doesn't seem like Gal Mekel and Vitor Faverani should be awarded with contracts that last just as long as the ones David West, Al Jefferson and Monta Ellis have received. 

The simple answer for why players of such widely varying resumes wind up with three-year deals is that three seasons is the amount of time a player must spend with his team for the club to gain his full Bird Rights. If the Mavs want to re-sign Ellis to another lucrative contract in 2016, they may do so, even if they're over the cap. It doesn't seem nearly as likely that the team will have to break the bank to sign Mekel to his next contract, so that might leave fans puzzled.

The most obvious difference between the deals for Ellis and Mekel is the money involved. Ellis' contract is expected to be worth around $28MM, while Mekel signed for the minimum. Still, plenty of minimum-salary contracts are for only one or two years, so it's worth asking why Mekel and other unproven talents are getting long-term deals.

Part of the answer lies in the offer sheet Chris Copeland signed with the Pacers this month. Little was expected of Copeland last summer when the Knicks signed him to a non-guaranteed one-year deal that amounted to an invitation to training camp. He won a spot on the regular season roster, and continued to surprise during the season, shooting 42.1% from three-point range on 2.5 attempts per game. He mostly appeared off the bench, but he wound up starting 13 regular season contests and a playoff game. Copeland's performance resulted in a two-year, $6.135MM offer from the Pacers that the Knicks were powerless to match.

New York only had Non-Bird rights on Copeland, which allowed the team to give him 120% of the maximum salary. The capped-out, taxpaying Knicks could have matched the Pacers' offer if they had kept their $3.183MM mini mid-level exception available, but they had already used about half of the exception to re-sign Pablo Prigioni. That left GM Glen Grunwald and company with their hands tied as they watched the three days they had to match the offer tick away.

Even the benefits that come from two-year deals can leave teams in the lurch, as the Knicks learned last summer. The team's Early Bird rights weren't enough to keep Jeremy Lin around, since the Gilbert Arenas Provision allowed the Rockets to make a backloaded offer. The Knicks couldn't have foreseen "Linsanity" in 2011/12, and they weren't to blame for the length of his deal, which the Warriors handed out in 2010, more than a year before he wound up in New York. Not every fringe NBA player will develop into a worldwide sensation, but the Bulls found themselves in the same quandary as the Knicks last summer when the Rockets made an identical backloaded offer to Omer Asik, and there was no such thing as "Asiksanity." 

Players entering the NBA for the first time are unknown quantities, and it's not uncommon for lightly regarded prospects turn into solid pros. That's why it pays for teams to sign rookies to three-year contracts. First-round picks wind up with four-year deals, but teams are free to negotiate the terms of their deals with second-rounders and undrafted players. Three of this year's second-round draft picks have already inked three-year pacts, and there will surely be more. 

There are caveats to the advantages of three-year deals, of course. Teams that invite a player to training camp on a contract that extends beyond one year are on the hook for the player's salary if he gets hurt. So, had the Knicks given Copeland a three-year deal, they might have had to shell out about $500K to Copeland last season if he suffered a season-ending injury during training camp  — even though his contract was non-guaranteed. Three-year contracts aren't as valuable when it comes to proven veterans. For instance, it's not likely that after eight years of mediocre play, Ronnie Price will blossom into a sought-after free agent commodity and make the Magic regret signing him for only one season.

Perhaps most importantly, contracts that last more than two seasons aren't covered under the minimum-salary exception, which would force over-the-cap teams to use another exception to accomodate even the cheapest of three-year deals. That, more than any reason, explains why the Knicks didn't sign Copeland for three years. It wouldn't make sense for any over-the-cap team to sign all of its training camp invitees long-term, since tools like the mid-level exception and bi-annual exception are usually reserved for much more reliable help. It also explains why the Bulls, who gave a two-year deal to former second-round pick Asik in 2010, again risked trouble down the road when they signed 49th overall pick Erik Murphy to a deal for just two seasons. It's possible they could have held back the roughly $500K that Murphy figures to earn this year from Mike Dunleavy's mini mid-level contract, but perhaps Dunleavy would have signed elsewhere if Chicago hadn't given him the full value of the exception.

Teams under the cap don't have to make those kinds of choices, so three-year deals make more sense for them. Not surprisingly, most of the unheralded players who signed for three years this summer did so with teams that were able to open cap room. Clubs that keep some cap space into the season can swing deals similar to the Rockets' signings of Tim Ohlbrecht, Patrick Beverley and James Anderson this past winter. Their cases show how the lack of a full guarantee provides a team with even greater leverage in a three-year deal. The Rockets gave them contracts that were guaranteed for year one but non-guaranteed for years two and three. That allowed the team to waive Ohlbrecht and Anderson this summer while hanging on to the more promising Beverley.

In short, when teams give relative unknowns deals that last just as long as the ones they hand out to stars, it isn't necessarily because they think the unfamiliar players are keepers. It's because the teams think those prospects could become coveted players, and front offices want to have the maximum leverage that a three-year contract can provide.

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