For the first time in several years, a first-round pick has accepted below the standard maximum of 120% of his rookie scale amount, tweets Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights. According to Siegel, No. 30 overall pick Kevin Porter Jr. will only earn 80% of his rookie scale amount during his first season and will continue to get less than 120% of the rookie scale amount in years two through four.
The rookie scale amount this year for the No. 30 pick is $1,613,700, so Porter’s expected salary for his rookie season would have been $1,936,440. Instead, he’ll get just $1,290,960, according to Siegel.
[RELATED: Rookie Scale Salaries For 2019 First-Round Picks]
While this is just my speculation, it seems likely that the Cavaliers would have checked in with Porter and his agent before drafting him to see if he’d be okay with that reduced first-year salary, given how rare it is. Porter, the final pick in the first round, will still earn significantly more than the rookie minimum of $898K that many early second-rounder selections will receive, while the Cavs, who are up against the luxury-tax line, will put themselves in better position to avoid potential repeater penalties.
Here are more contract details from around the NBA, all courtesy of Siegel unless otherwise indicated:
- Terry Rozier‘s three-year, $56.7MM contract with the Hornets has a declining structure (Twitter link). It starts at $19.9MM in 2019/20 before eventually dipping to $17.9MM by 2021/22.
- The base value of Rudy Gay‘s two-year deal with the Spurs is $28MM, with $2MM in annual bonuses to bring the potential total value up to $32MM (Twitter link). DeMarre Carroll‘s deal, meanwhile, only has a partial guarantee of $1.35MM in the third year (Twitter link). The Spurs tacked on that third season when they pivoted to acquiring Carroll via sign-and-trade rather than signing him outright.
- Trevor Ariza‘s two-year, $25MM contract with the Kings only has a $1.8MM partial guarantee in year two (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Sacramento’s deal with Dewayne Dedmon has a base value of $40MM over three years, with $300K in annual incentives (Twitter link).
- Blake Murphy of The Athletic provides details on a pair of Raptors contracts, tweeting that Patrick McCaw‘s new two-year deal is worth $8MM, while Matt Thomas‘ three-year, minimum-salary contract is non-guaranteed in year three. Both of those deals will come out of Toronto’s mid-level exception — Stanley Johnson‘s might too, though if the team has plans in mind for the rest of the $4.36MM on its MLE, Johnson could be signed using the bi-annual exception instead, notes Murphy.
just $1,290,960 Lol
I predict Trevor Ariza will do absolutely nothing with the Kings and force a buyout and join Lakers. This guy is the biggest scam artist. Guy is really good at getting a big payday and then phoning it in. He was absolutely trash last season.
By what standard? Was he worth his salary? Probably not but Phoenix was the team stupid enough to give him that big of a deal. Should he take less than what he is being offered because us fans think he’s not worth his salary? He’s roughly a league average rotation player. He’s paid slightly more than that because he’s a 3-and-D wing which is arguably one of the most valuable player roles in the league.
I don’t know why teams and people still think he’s worth paying that much money to. It’s like everyone for some reason still believes he’s good. He’s perceived as a 3 and D guy but he’s not good at either of those anymore. Teams are stupid.
He’s famous for being good on good teams. Must be a vanity thing for GMs.
Tis the season of sign-and-trades and multi-year deals.
Cleveland should have to pay extra not less
JR Smith should have to pay Porter.
Lol
According to the article, they will next season by over paying them. In fact, Cleveland will over pay him in the next three seasons.
I’m impressed Porter was willing to be backloaded, and in Cleveland. This kid might be something. Minor injury for summer league.