- Coach Mike Budenholzer said the Hawks won’t be making the type of moves that are typical of tanking teams, relays Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta is tied with Phoenix for the top spot in our latest Reverse Standings at 18-41. “I think we’ve been a mix of young and veteran guys all year,” Budenholzer said. “I think the way we progressed through the season — of course when you start the season you think it could be a little different — [but] right now but I think the way we’ve played, and the way we continue to play, won’t be that much different.”
As we noted last week when we identified the clubs with open roster spots, NBA rules generally prohibit teams from carrying fewer than 14 players on their 15-man squads (not counting two-way players). However, teams are permitted to dip to 13 – or even 12 – in special circumstances, as long as they get back up to 14 within two weeks.
At this month’s trade deadline, four teams ended up with multiple open roster spots and are currently carrying 13 players on their NBA rosters. The Cavaliers have 13 players after their plethora of deadline deals; the Wizards went down to 13 after sending Sheldon Mac to Atlanta; and the Trail Blazers are carrying 13 after trading Noah Vonleh to Chicago. The Hawks, meanwhile, waived Mac and Marco Belinelli after the trade deadline passed to get to 13.
As a result of those roster moves, Cleveland, Washington, and Portland have until this Thursday – two weeks after the trade deadline – to get back up to 14 players by signing a player to a 10-day contract or a rest-of-season deal. Atlanta has until Friday to do the same.
While we don’t know with certainty which players will be signed by these four teams later this week, there have been some clues. Veteran big man Kendrick Perkins published a tweet on February 8 suggesting that he was joining the Cavs, but quickly deleted it — Cleveland may be ready to finalize an agreement with Perkins later this week.
The Wizards, meanwhile, have been linked to several free agent point guards with John Wall sidelined and Tim Frazier banged up too. Ty Lawson, Derrick Rose, and Ramon Sessions are among the players said to have drawn some interest from Washington, so perhaps the club will pull the trigger on a deal with one of those vets this week.
Temporarily carrying 13 players has had a noticeable financial impact for the Cavs, Wizards, and Blazers, as cap expert Albert Nahmad observes (via Twitter). Cleveland has saved $35K per day since the trade deadline in potential luxury-tax payments for that 14th roster spot, while Washington has saved $12K per day in taxes. As for the Blazers, the savings they’ve created by carrying 13 players will allow them to sign a 14th player, then eventually sign a 15th player – if they so choose – without going over the tax line.
Now that the dust has settled on last Thursday’s trade-deadline deals and the first round of veteran buyouts and cuts has been completed, it’s worth taking stock of which NBA teams have the flexibility to add a player or two without waivers anyone else.
With the help of our roster counts page, which we update all season, here are the NBA teams with open spots on their 15-man rosters. Open two-way contract slots aren’t included here, since teams are ineligible to sign new two-way contracts at this point in the season.
Teams with a player on a 10-day contract filling their open spot:
- Phoenix Suns
- Utah Jazz
Both the Suns and Jazz have 14 players on fully guaranteed NBA contracts, leaving one potential opening. For now, Josh Gray is filling that 15th spot in Phoenix and Naz Mitrou-Long is doing the same in Utah. However, they’re only on 10-day contracts, so both of these teams could soon create an open spot if necessary.
Teams with one open spot:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Chicago Bulls
- Dallas Mavericks
- Indiana Pacers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Note: The Pelicans currently have two open roster spots, but Emeka Okafor‘s second 10-day contract will fill one when it becomes official.
- New York Knicks
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Orlando Magic
- Sacramento Kings
- Toronto Raptors
The teams listed above represent a mix of playoff-bound squads and rebuilding non-contenders. Teams like the Bulls, Mavericks, and Knicks could use their open roster spots to take fliers on young players via 10-day contracts, while clubs like the Timberwolves, Thunder, and Raptors may be eyeing the buyout market for veterans who could fortify their respective benches.
Teams with two open spots:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Washington Wizards
NBA rules generally prohibit teams from carrying fewer than 14 players on their 15-man squads. However, clubs are permitted to dip to 13 – or even 12 – in special circumstances, as long as they get back up to 14 within two weeks. Roster moves made last week by the Hawks, Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, and Wizards left them below the limit, so they’ll each have to add at least one player by the end of the All-Star break.
Note: Roster info current as of Tuesday, February 13 at 2:00pm CT.
Several veteran players have been waived by their respective teams since Thursday’s trade deadline, with guard Marco Belinelli, forward Joe Johnson, and big man Brandan Wright receiving buyouts. As those vets prepare to sign with new teams, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) passes along details on how much money they gave back to their old clubs.
According to Wojnarowski, Belinelli gave up $300K to get out of his deal with the Hawks, Johnson surrendered $1MM in his buyout agreement with the Kings, and Wright gave up $776K to the Grizzlies.
[RELATED: 2017/18 Buyout Market Summary]
As Woj observes in his tweet, a player who agrees to buy out typically does so knowing that he’ll earn back most or all of his lost salary once he signs a new deal. With that in mind, it’s worth noting that Wright’s buyout amount doesn’t appear to be arbitrary — if he signs a minimum salary deal with the Rockets today, Wright will earn approximately $776K for the rest of the season with Houston.
Since Belinelli, like Wright, has at least 10 years of NBA experience too, his minimum salary deal would also be worth about $776K if completed today. Those two contracts would count for only about $490K against the cap. As for Johnson, if he signs with Houston on Tuesday, he’d earn about $763K on a minimum salary deal, with a cap hit of approximately $482K.
Johnson, whose salary had been $10.5MM+ before his buyout, apparently agreed to give up a little more salary than he’ll earn the rest of the way with the Rockets. But that trade-off is certainly worth it, since he’ll make the move from the NBA’s worst team to the club with perhaps the best shot at knocking off the defending-champion Warriors.
As for Belinelli, his relatively modest buyout signals that the Hawks were ready to move on from the veteran and hand his minutes over to younger players. He’ll come out ahead financially after signing with the Sixers.
- The Hawks cannot take on any more money after the team received nearly $688,000 from the Wizards in the Sheldon Mac deal, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, much attention is being paid to what is expected to be several weeks of busy buyout market activity. The last day that a player can be waived from their current team and still be eligible to play in the postseason with a new team is March 1.
Below are a series of lists breaking down the veterans who have already been bought out – or simply waived – by their respective teams since the trade deadline, along with those who are expected to be, and several more who really ought to be considered possible buyout candidates even if no reports have come out explicitly stating as much.
As the weeks unfold, we may see new names surface as buyout candidates, in such cases (and whenever a player is formally bought out) we’ll update the list.
Potential buyout candidates:
- Arron Afflalo, SG, 32 (Magic) – $1.5MM in 2017/18
- Corey Brewer, SF, 31 (Lakers) – $7.6MM in 2017/18
- Vince Carter, SF, 41 (Kings) – $8.0MM in 2017/18
- Ersan Ilyasova, PF, 30 (Hawks) – $6.0MM in 2017/18
- Jarrett Jack, PG, 34 (Knicks) – $1.5MM in 2017/18
- Shabazz Muhammad, SF, 25 (Timberwolves) – $1.6MM in 2017/18 +1 year
- Joakim Noah, C, 32 (Knicks) – $17.8MM in 2017/18 +2 years
Expected to be bought out or released:
- None
Veterans who have been bought out or released:
- Tony Allen, SG, 36 (Bulls) – $2.1MM in 2017/18
- Marco Belinelli, SG, 31 (Hawks) – $6.6MM in 2017/18: Signed with Sixers
- Joe Johnson, SF, 36 (Kings) – $10.5MM in 2017/18: Agreed to sign with Rockets
- Josh McRoberts, PF, 30 (Mavericks) – $6.0MM in 2017/18
- Derrick Rose, PG, 29 (Jazz) – $2.1MM in 2017/18
- Brandan Wright, PF, 30 (Grizzlies) – $6.0MM in 2017/18: Signed with Rockets
There has been considerable speculation that the Hawks will look into possible buyout options with forward Ersan Ilyasova, and rightfully so. Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweeted as much shortly after the trade deadline.
At this point, however, the parties haven’t discussed such an arrangement. Hours after that initial tweet, Cunningham tweeted that Ilyasova himself isn’t looking for a buyout, so long as the team is playing to win games. On Friday, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution chipped in with a note that the 30-year-old hasn’t been approached about one either.
Ilyasova, who signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the club in the offseason, has averaged 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Hawks. He’d be a valuable addition to any contender looking to add versatile frontcourt depth heading into the final stretch of the season.
A testament to Ilyasova’s value is the fact that, as Cunningham mentioned in one of his aforementioned tweets, the team did have trade offers for him — he simply invoked his right to reject them.
There’s more out of Atlanta:
- Forward DeAndre’ Bembry was arrested for driving 128 miles per hour in a 55 zone, potentially racing, Lauren Foreman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. In 18 games with the Hawks this season, Bembry has averaged 4.8 points.
- First-year general manager Travis Schlenk is eager to preserve cap flexibility with the hopes of, potentially, using that to absorb salaries in trades from teams looking to shed money, Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.
- The key beneficiary of the Marco Belinelli buyout will be rookie Tyler Dorsey, Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Dorsey has averaged 4.3 points per game in just 11.3 minutes of action but has hit double digits in all three of the games in which he cracked the 20-minute plateau.
5:02pm: The Hawks have formally requested waivers on Belinelli, the team announced in a press release.
2:18pm: The Hawks are finalizing a buyout agreement with shooting guard Marco Belinelli, leagues sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, several contending teams are interested in Belinelli.
Belinelli, who will turn 32 next month, has been his usual productive self for the Hawks this season, averaging 11.4 PPG on .411/.372/.927 shooting in 52 games (23.3 MPG). Given Atlanta’s struggles and Belinelli’s expiring $6.6MM contract, the veteran was widely viewed a strong trade candidate leading up to Thursday’s deadline.
In fact, the Hawks even pulled Belinelli out of their lineup earlier this week as trade talks ramped up, presumably expecting him to be dealt. However, Atlanta ultimately didn’t pull the trigger on any deals. With Belinelli set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer and the Hawks preferring to give minutes to young players down the stretch, it didn’t take long for the two sides to pursue a buyout.
Assuming the Hawks and Belinelli finalize their buyout agreement and the former first-round pick reaches free agency, there should be no shortage of potential suitors. The Thunder, Pacers, Sixers, and Heat were among the teams said to have interest in Belinelli leading up to the deadline, and Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that the Timberwolves talked to the Hawks about him too. Contenders like the Warriors, Celtics, Rockets, Cavaliers, and Raptors would also be among the bevy of possible fits.
Belinelli’s decision figures to come down to how heavily he weighs various factors, such as playing time, money, and the ability to legitimately compete for a title.
As expected, the Hawks have waived injured guard Sheldon Mac after acquiring him from the Wizards in a trade earlier today. Atlanta announced in a press release that it has requested waivers on Mac.
As we detailed in our earlier story on the Mac deal, the 25-year-old was on a non-guaranteed salary with the Wizards this season, but suffered a torn Achilles in the fall, which essentially guaranteed that he’d receive his full-year salary. Washington reduced its projected luxury-tax bill and opened up a roster spot in the deal that sent him to Atlanta.
Mac is the second player today that the Hawks have acquired and subsequently waived. The team also traded for Okaro White in a deal with the Heat and then released him. After today’s moves, Atlanta will have one open roster spot.
4:38pm: The trade is now official, according to press releases issued by both the Wizards and Hawks. The heavily-protected second-rounder acquired by Washington in the deal is a 2019 pick.
3:18pm: The Hawks sent the Wizards a heavily-protected second-round pick in the swap, tweets Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That pick likely won’t ever change hands, and was simply included because of the requirement that Washington receive something in the deal.
Cunningham adds that Atlanta plans to waive Mac.
3:08pm: The Wizards are sending guard Sheldon Mac to Atlanta in a deal with the Hawks, reports Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Atlanta will also receive cash in the trade, tweets Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
Mac, 25, spent his rookie season with the Wizards in 2016/17 and had a non-guaranteed salary for 2017/18. However, before Washington made a decision on whether to keep him on the regular season roster, Mac suffered a torn Achilles, essentially guaranteeing his salary for the year.
By moving Mac, the Wizards will reduce their projected luxury tax bill and will open up a spot on their 15-man roster in case they want to get involved in the buyout market. The Hawks, meanwhile, will likely receive enough cash in the deal from Washington to cover the remaining portion of Mac’s salary.