Wizards Use Stretch Provision On Martell Webster
The Wizards used the stretch provision to spread out the cap hit associated with the $2.5MM partial guarantee on Martell Webster‘s salary for next season, reports Zach Lowe of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Webster, who cleared waivers after the team released him last week, will see the $2.5MM in three equal parts of $833,333 each season from 2016/17 through 2018/19 instead of receiving the $2.5MM all in 2016/17. That gives the Wizards about $1.667MM in added cap flexibility this summer, when they’re poised to chase soon-to-be free agent Kevin Durant and reportedly plan to re-sign Bradley Beal to a max contract in free agency.
The stretch doesn’t apply to this season’s salary of almost $5.614MM. The full amount of Webster’s salary for next season was to have been more than $5.845MM, but Washington is only on the hook for the partially guaranteed value.
The league allows teams until the end of the first full day after a player clears waivers to decide whether they want to use the stretch provision to spread out his cap hit, so that accounts for some of the delay in reporting. The Wizards could have taken until the end of this past Thursday to declare whether they were stretching Webster’s salary.
The move leaves Washington with $37,691,855 in guaranteed salary for next season, when the cap is projected to hit $89MM. Beal’s cap hold is worth $14,734,954, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. The Wizards would incur roster charges worth $3,804,297, a number equal to seven times the rookie minimum salary, if they were to strip down merely to Beal and the four players on their roster with fully guaranteed salary for next season. The maximum salary for Durant, who’ll have nine years of experience by next summer, is projected to be $24.9MM. That means the Wizards would have at least $81,131,106 tied up if they sign Durant, so they could spend between that amount and the cap to supplement their roster before circling back to re-sign Beal. Washington could use Beal’s Bird rights to exceed the cap, a privilege the team wouldn’t have with outside free agents.
Still, those numbers are merely based on projections and the idea that Washington would waive Kris Humphries, Drew Gooden and DeJuan Blair, all of whom also have partially guaranteed salary for next season. It would also require the team to get rid of its obligation to pay its 2016 first-round pick, which the Wizards could achieve by trading the pick or using it on a draft-and-stash player. The Wizards could pry open additional flexibility if they use the stretch provision on other players they might waive. In any case, the decision to stretch Webster’s salary will help the team supplement its roster for next season, even as it places slightly more burden on the team’s payroll for 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Eastern Notes: Stokes, Powell, Harris
The Wizards have been one of the more disappointing teams early in the season, and Washington’s drop off is directly related to the loss of Paul Pierce, who departed as a free agent for the Clippers this past offseason, Keith P. Smith of RealGM writes. With Washington determined to maintain as much free cap space as it can in order to make a run at Kevin Durant next summer, any changes will likely need to come from within, Smith notes. If the Wizards do make any moves, they will likely be small and involve bringing in players who are owed no guaranteed money beyond this season, the RealGM scribe concludes.
Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:
- Cavs shooting Joe Harris, who is currently on his fourth D-League assignment of the season, views his time in Canton as a means to stay in game shape as well as an opportunity to stoke his competitive fire, Joe Gabriele of NBA.com relays. When asked if there were specific facets of the game he is sent to the D-League to focus on, Harris told Gabriele, “They just want me to go down there and play – ‘be aggressive and work on your game.’ It’s basically an opportunity to go down there and get minutes because I don’t get much tick up here. There’s only so much you can do as far as individual skill work and conditioning on a bike. But you can’t simulate playing in an actual game. And it can’t satisfy the competitive itch you feel as a player.“
- The Heat have assigned Jarnell Stokes to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be the power forward’s second jaunt of the season to the D-League.
- Power forward Josh Powell, who was waived by the Bucks this preseason, signed with San Lorenzo in Argentina, the team announced (translation by Orazio Cauchi of Sportando). The arrangement is for the remainder of the season, though it’s unknown if the pact includes an NBA out clause.
Southeast Notes: Carroll, Millsap, Dudley, Oladipo
DeMarre Carroll is grateful for the opportunity the Hawks gave him during his time with the team, which began when he signed a two-year, $5MM deal in 2013 and ended when he joined the Raptors for four years and a whopping $58MM, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca details. Toronto teammate Patrick Patterson was blunt when asked what the Atlanta experience gave Carroll.
“His contract, plain and simple,” Patterson said to Lewenberg. “His contract that he has with us. All the hard work that he’s put in throughout his life, his career in the NBA, every opportunity that presented itself and then his stint with the Atlanta Hawks and having success with them, it’s allowed him to have this opportunity he has now with us.”
Still, Carroll has carved his own path, impressing Raptors coach Dwane Casey with his basketball IQ, and his success didn’t come just because he played for the Hawks, Lewenberg argues. See more on Carroll and other news from the Southeast Division:
- Carroll didn’t make too much of an impression on Jeff Teague, who said he doesn’t care that his former teammate is in town with the Raptors tonight, but Paul Millsap said he and Carroll formed a connection during their time together, writes Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Hawks, priced out of re-signing both their marquee free agents this summer, chose a new deal with Millsap over one with Carroll. “That’s my guy,” Millsap said of Carroll. “That’s my brother. It’s going to be good to see him here, especially in front of this crowd. They loved DeMarre. Me and him, we keep in contact all the time. Like brothers do. About his situation. About my situation.”
- The Wizards took small ball to an extreme during Tuesday’s win over the Cavs, with offseason trade acquisition Jared Dudley playing center for a spell, and it worked, serving as further demonstration of the team’s recent philosophical shift, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post examines.
- The Magic hired Scott Skiles to make tough calls like his decision to bench former No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo, argues Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders. The shooting guard doesn’t appear pleased with the move, but he nonetheless acknowledges that the team is playing its best since the Dwight Howard trade, Taylor writes. We asked for your input on Oladipo’s benching in Tuesday’s Community Shootaround.
Wizards Sign Ryan Hollins
11:57am: The signing is official, the Wizards announced.
10:57am: It’ll be a minimum-salary contract, as J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com hears (Twitter link), so the Wizards won’t have to use the disabled player exception they’d like to get in return for Webster’s injury.
10:40am: The deal for Hollins will be non-guaranteed, according to Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (on Twitter). The Wizards will release Webster to make room on the roster, as Charania also reported and as we covered in more detail here.
7:57am: The Wizards and nine-year veteran center Ryan Hollins have agreed to a deal, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. Washington already has 15 players, and while the team has planned to apply for a disabled player exception for Martell Webster, who’s out for the season, that doesn’t provide for an extra roster spot. Alan Anderson, who’s still recovering from left ankle surgery, is the only other injured Wizard who isn’t at least questionable for Tuesday’s game. That would mean Washington doesn’t have the four long-term injuries required for a hardship provision, which would allow the team a 16th man. Thus, it would appear that the Wizards must let go of one of their 15 fully guaranteed salaries to accommodate Hollins, unless some of their injuries are more serious than reports have thus far indicated.
Hollins, 31, was with the Grizzlies in preseason before Memphis cut him prior to opening night. The Wizards, Kings, Clippers, Mavericks and Pelicans all reportedly had interest in him over the summer, and the Kings, for whom he played last season, still had their eyes on him when the Wizards snapped him up, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. Hollins was efficient with Memphis during the preseason, averaging 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game across seven appearances.
The Wizards, expected to make a run in the Eastern Conference playoffs as they’ve done the past two seasons, are 6-8 and in 12th place in the East. Garrett Temple, who’s on an expiring contract worth slightly more than $1.1MM, would make for the least expensive cut if the Wizards let go of someone.
Do you think Hollins can help the Wizards? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Wizards Waive Martell Webster
11:56am: Webster’s release is official, the team announced.
“Martell, with his contributions on the court and ability to connect with the fans and the community off the court, has been a great example of the type of player we want to represent our organization,” Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld said. “He worked extremely hard to fight through his injuries but unfortunately was not able to make a healthy return. We appreciate everything he contributed to the team and wish him and his family nothing but the best.”
9:42am: The Wizards plan to waive Martell Webster, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The move clears a roster spot for the team to sign Ryan Hollins, a pending transaction that Charania reported overnight. Webster is out for the season with a hip injury. His salary is fully guaranteed for $5.6135MM this season and partially guaranteed for $2.5MM next year, the final year of his contract. Washington will have to pay both unless another team claims him off waivers, though a claim would be a highly unlikely outcome. Webster would have been in line for a full guarantee on his salary worth more than $5.845MM next season if he’d have played in at least 70 games this season, but he’s already missed too many.
Webster said when he elected to have surgery on his right hip that it would knock him out for four to six months, a timetable that might have him back in time for the end of the season. Other reports indicated that recovery could take as long as 10 months, and the Wizards ultimately announced that they expected him to miss the entire season. The small forward whose 29th birthday is this week had employed balance-correcting glasses and other measures in an ill-fated attempt to try to rehabilitate the hip without surgery.
Injuries have long plagued the former sixth overall pick, though he missed a total of only 10 regular season games his first two seasons with Washington, in 2012/13 and 2013/14. That changed last season, when he missed 50, and he appeared only once in the 2015 playoffs. Still, he’s no longer pondering retirement as he did a year ago. He averaged 9.7 points in 27.7 minutes per game with 39.2% 3-point shooting in 2013/14, his last healthy season.
Do you think Webster can return from injury next season to play a significant role for another NBA team? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
NBA Grants Disabled Player Exception To Wizards
The NBA has granted the Wizards a disabled player exception to offset the loss of Martell Webster to a season-ending hip surgery, a source tells Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com reported when Webster elected to undergo the hip procedure that the team would apply for the exception, which is worth $2,806,750, precisely half of Webster’s salary.
The Wizards can use it to sign a player to a contract that pays up to that amount and that covers the rest of the season, but they can’t use it for any multiyear arrangement. Alternatively, they can claim a player off waivers who’s on an expiring contract for that amount or less. They may also trade for a player on an expiring contract who’s making as much as $2,906,750, which is $100K more than half of Webster’s salary.
Washington is not using its disabled player exception to sign Ryan Hollins, since he’s reportedly set to make the minimum salary, and the team can simply use the minimum salary exception for that. Instead, the disabled player exception is a tool the team can use to acquire another player between now and March 10th, when it expires. The Wizards already had a $1.464MM sliver of the mid-level exception they could use to sign players for more than the minimum, so they have more flexibility to upgrade their roster than many other teams do.
Still, whether they use the disabled player exception, the mid-level exception or the minimum-salary exception to sign a player other than Hollins, it’ll require a corresponding move, since the substitution of Hollins for Webster, whom the team intends to waive, will keep Washington at the maximum 15 players. The disabled player exception doesn’t grant an extra roster spot the way the hardship provision does. The Wizards haven’t officially waived Webster yet, but once they do, they’ll still be able to use the disabled player exception.
Still have questions about how the disabled player exception works for the Wizards? Leave a comment and we’ll provide answers as best we can.
And-Ones: Gortat, Pelicans, Matthews, Hammon
Marcin Gortat blasted the negativity surrounding the Wizards following tonight’s last-second loss to the Raptors, tweets J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com. Gortat says the poor atmosphere has taken the fun out of coming to the arena. This isn’t the first time this season that the center has talked about being unhappy. Two weeks ago, he complained about being publicly criticized by coach Randy Wittman following a loss to the Thunder. Gortat is still committed to Washington for four more seasons on the $60MM contract he signed in 2014.
There’s more from around the world of basketball:
- Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry says Tyreke Evans and Norris Cole could make their season debuts Tuesday, tweets John Reid of The Times-Picayune. Evans underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in October, and Cole is recovering from a high ankle sprain.
- Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle credits offseason addition Wesley Matthews for the team’s improvement on defense, tweets Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com. Carlisle says the former Blazer’s size and versatility have made a difference on that end of the floor.
- Assistant coach Becky Hammon is playing an active role on the Spurs‘ bench, writes Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. During a second-quarter timeout in tonight’s win over the Hawks, Vivlamore watched San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich step back and let Hammon run the huddle and diagram a play.
- Brook Lopez‘s decision to sign a new three-year contract with the Nets tops a list of questionable moves compiled by Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. Even though he got $63MM in the deal, Lopez is locked into a terrible team during the prime years of his career. Also on Aschburner’s list are Jahlil Okafor‘s missed opportunity to tell the Sixers not to draft him, Pau Gasol‘s choice to come to the Bulls in 2014 when he could have gone to the Spurs, the Clippers‘ offseason acquisitions and Josh Smith‘s decision to leave the Rockets for L.A.
Southeast Notes: Hawks, Clifford, Winslow
Coach Mike Budenholzer’s ability to sell the virtues of the Hawks organization will determine their long-term success, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com opines in a detailed look at the team’s structure and roster. While the front office appears stable, the roster could undergo major changes after the season, Arnovitz continues. Center Al Horford will enter unrestricted free agency next season, starting shooting guard Kyle Korver is in his mid-30s, center Tiago Splitter has injury issues and point guards Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder may have trouble co-existing over the long haul, Arnovitz adds. They also haven’t adequately replaced small forward DeMarre Carroll, so Budenholzer and the front office need to show free agents that Atlanta is a desirable landing spot, Arnovitz concludes.
In other news around the Southeast Division:
- Veteran center Al Jefferson gives a ringing endorsement to the contract extension that coach Steve Clifford received from the Hornets this week, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports. “The one thing I love about him is he keeps it real with you. He doesn’t say one thing to your face and another thing behind your back,” Jefferson told Bonnell. “He changed this whole team around from Day 1. He works harder than any head coach I’ve been around. He demands you play hard and play together.”
- The Heat’s long-term outlook depends upon the development of rookie small forward Justise Winslow and center Hassan Whiteside, as Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports explains while taking an in-depth look at the roster. Winslow has embraced the role of defensive specialist and hasn’t been overwhelmed by the task of shadowing the opponent’s top scorer. “At this point, we’re peers,” Winslow told Lee. “I don’t put those guys on a pedestal.” Whiteside, the league’s top shot blocker, is determined to show that his breakout season a year ago wasn’t a fluke, Lee adds.
- The Wizards’ outlook after 12 games is troubling for a team expected to make a run in the Eastern Conference, according to J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com. There has been an extraordinary amount of drama in the early going, J. Michael points out, ranging from center Marcin Gortat getting irritated at coach Randy Wittman for calling him soft to point guard John Wall brooding over his lack of shots.
2015/16 Salary Cap: Washington Wizards
The NBA’s salary cap for 2015/16 has been set at $70MM, which is an 11% increase from this past season, and the luxury tax line will be $84.74MM. The last cap projection from the league had been $67.1MM, and the projection for the tax line had been $81.6MM.
With the October 26th cutoff date to set regular season rosters now past, we at Hoops Rumors are in the process of running down the current salary cap commitments for each NBA franchise for the 2015/16 campaign. Here’s the cap breakdown for the Washington Wizards, whose regular season roster can be viewed here:
- 2015/16 Salary Cap= $70,000,000
- 2015/16 Luxury Tax Line= $84,740,000
- Fully Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $81,485,782
- Partially Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $10,000*
- Non-Guaranteed Salary Commitments= $0
- Total Salary Cap Commitments= $81,495,782
- Remaining Cap Room= –$11,495,782
- Amount Below Luxury Tax Line= $3,244,218
*Note: This amount is the $10,000 in salary paid to Jaleel Roberts, who was waived by the team.
Cap Exceptions Available:
- Non-Taxpayer’s Mid-Level Exception= $1,464,000
Cash Available to Send Out In Trades= $3,400,000
Cash Available to Receive Via Trade= $3,400,000
Last update: 11/25/15 @ 7:00pm
The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.
Eastern Notes: Monroe, Irving, Stoudemire
Greg Monroe believes his departure from the Pistons played a role in Andre Drummond‘s ascension as the NBA’s leading per-game rebounder, as Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press details. The Pistons replaced Monroe, who averaged 10.2 rebounds alongside Drummond, with trade acquisition Ersan Ilyasova, who’s averaging only 3.6.
“When you have someone you’re playing with that averages 10 rebounds, too, you’re going to get a few less rebounds,” Monroe said. “There’s a lot more rebounds available, so he’s gonna get more. It’s not surprising to me at all. He’s always had that motor. He’s always had that hunger to rebound.”
Drummond’s average on the boards has jumped from 13.5 last season to 17.6 this year. See more from the Eastern Conference:
- Kyrie Irving is expected to return for the Cavaliers before January, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Concerns that his absence would linger into the new year existed over the summer.
- Amar’e Stoudemire calls it a “long shot,” but he won’t rule out playing next season with Hapoel Jerusalem, the Israeli team in which he has an ownership stake, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Stoudemire is on a one-year deal with the Heat. “I had a pretty strong 14-year career so far,’’ Stoudemire said. “Right now I’m taking it one day at a time, one season at a time. I don’t know how much time left I have as a player. I’m just cherishing the moment and try to develop the young guys.’’
- Offseason trade addition Jared Dudley is a smaller version of Nene in many ways, observes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic.com. Dudley insists that Nene, a free agent at season’s end, remains an integral part of the Wizards in spite of his reduced role, as Michael relays. “Offensively, it starts with Nene,” Dudley said. “He’s the one guy [on the second unit] that can get his own shot and then we move the ball. Me being the four, when I get the ball even when I’m open sometimes it’s getting the ball side to side and getting other guys involved.”