Most of the players who received their walking papers from NBA teams over the last couple weeks were on non-guaranteed summer contracts, or deals that featured modest partial guarantees. Even a team like the Sixers, having waived four players on partially guaranteed contracts, will only carry $330K worth of salary on the 2016/17 cap for those players.
Several teams, however, parted ways with players on fully guaranteed contracts. In some cases, this was a result of a team carrying more than 15 players on guaranteed deals, and having to bite the bullet on one of them. In other instances, a team simply wanted to keep a player without a fully guaranteed contract, and needed to create roster space by cutting someone else and eating some salary.
Listed below are the players with fully guaranteed contracts who were waived during the preseason roster cutdown, along with the teams that dropped them and the total salary they had remaining on their deals. All salary figures are for the 2016/17 season only, unless otherwise noted. Players with guaranteed salary for 2017/18 will likely have that amount stretched across multiple seasons.
- Ronnie Price, Thunder: $5,000,000 ($2,557,545 in 2016/17; $2,442,445 in 2017/18)
- Livio Jean-Charles, Spurs: $2,431,080 ($1,188,840 in 2016/17; $1,242,240 in 2017/18)
- Archie Goodwin, Suns: $2,094,089
- Mitch McGary, Thunder: $1,526,040
- Jordan Adams, Grizzlies: $1,465,080
- Alonzo Gee, Pelicans: $1,400,000
- Jeremy Evans, Pacers: $1,227,286
- R.J. Hunter, Celtics: $1,200,240
- Pablo Prigioni, Rockets: $1,050,961
- Lou Amundson, Knicks: $980,431*
- Jarrett Jack, Hawks: $980,431*
- Beno Udrih, Heat: $980,431* (claimed off waivers by Pistons)
- Anthony Brown, Lakers: $874,636
- Jonathan Gibson, Mavericks: $543,471
- Gary Payton II, Rockets: $543,471
* Note: Amundson, Jack, and Udrih are earning salaries worth more than $980,431, but their respective teams are only on the hook for $980,431 due to the minimum salary benefit rule. The NBA pays the remainder.
While most of the players listed above are free agents now or will be soon, it’s worth keeping an eye out for waiver claims. Udrih was claimed by the Pistons, and several of Monday’s cuts have yet to clear waivers and should draw some interest, including Goodwin and Hunter.