- Bulls executive VP Arturas Karnisovas anticipates a tight market heading toward the March 25 trade deadline, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times tweets. He said there are very few sellers at the moment because most feel clubs like they’re still in the running for the postseason, including a couple of “delusional” teams.
- The Bulls recalled guard Devon Dotson from the G League’s Canton Charge, the team tweets. Dotson was averaging 13 PPG and 5.6 APG in 10 games at Orlando’s “bubble” season. He’s on a two-way contract with Chicago.
The Designated Veteran Extension, as we explain our glossary entry on the subject, is a relatively new addition to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. It allows players with 7-9 years of experience, who would normally qualify for a maximum starting salary of 30% of the cap, to qualify for a “super-max” contract that starts at 35% of the cap, a level normally reserved players with 10+ years of experience.
A player who has seven or eight years of NBA service with one or two years left on his contract becomes eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension if he meets the required performance criteria and hasn’t been traded since his first four years in the league. A Designated Veteran contract can also be signed by a player who is technically a free agent if he has eight or nine years of service and meets the required criteria.
The performance criteria is as follows (only one of the following must be true):
- The player was named to an All-NBA team and/or was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the last three seasons.
- The player was named the NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons.
Technically, players like Gary Harris and Evan Fournier meet the criteria related to years of service with one team and could theoretically become eligible to sign a super-max extension this year, but they’re obviously not viable candidates to make an All-NBA team in 2021.
There are, however, a few players who are more realistic candidates to qualify for a super-max veteran contract based on their All-NBA candidacy. Let’s dive in and examine a few of those cases…
Joel Embiid (Sixers)
When Embiid first signed his five-year, maximum-salary contract with the Sixers back in 2017, he had appeared in just 31 games over the course of his first three NBA seasons, making the investment a risky one. The deal included some injury protection for Philadelphia, giving the team the ability to waive Embiid without fully guaranteeing the salaries in later years of the deal if one of the injuries he experienced early in his career became a recurring issue.
The idea of the Sixers waiving Embiid seems absurd now. While the former third overall pick hasn’t exactly been an iron man since the start of the 2017/18 season, there are no longer any concerns about his career being derailed by health issues before it could really get off the ground.
Embiid will have seven years of NBA service under his belt at the end of the 2020/21 campaign and if he earns a spot on an All-NBA team, he’d have done so twice in the last three years, having made the Second Team in 2019.
For now, he looks like an awfully safe All-NBA bet — his 30.0 PPG, 11.3 RPG, .519/.415/.858 shooting line, and solid defense have made him a legit MVP candidate. Health is always the wild card for Embiid, but as long as he stays on the court for most of the second half, an All-NBA spot should be a lock. That would make the big man eligible to sign a super-max extension with the Sixers this offseason.
Embiid remains under contract through 2023, with a $31.6MM salary in ’21/22 and a $33.6MM figure for ’22/23. A super-max extension would tack on four years to those two seasons and would start at 35% of the ’23/24 cap.
It’s too early to know exactly where the cap will end up in 2023/24, but if we use a conservative estimate and assume it will rise by 3% annually in each of the next three summers, that would result in a four-year total of up to $187MM on a new Embiid deal that runs through 2027. It will be fascinating to see how eager the 76ers would be to put that extension – which would cover Embiid’s age-29 to age-32 seasons – on the table.
Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
Like Embiid, Jokic has played like an MVP candidate and is a lock for an All-NBA spot, barring an injury or another unexpected development. Jokic, who was the All-NBA Second Team center in 2020, is making a case for a First Team spot this season, averaging 26.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG, and 8.5 APG on .564/.421/.879 shooting through 33 games for the Nuggets.
Unlike Embiid, however, Jokic will only have six years of NBA experience at the end of the 2020/21 season. That means that even though he can technically gain super-max eligibility by earning an All-NBA nod for the second straight season, Jokic wouldn’t officially be able to sign a new extension with Denver until 2022, once he has his seven years of service.
This is the same situation Giannis Antetokounmpo found himself in last year — he gained super-max eligibility following the 2018/19 season based on his multiple All-NBA spots and his MVP award, but wasn’t able to actually sign that super-max contract until the 2020 offseason, once he had seven years of service. The Bucks, of course, planned all along to offer him the super-max as soon as they could, and it’s probably safe to assume the Nuggets will do the same for Jokic.
Jokic’s current contract is virtually identical to Embiid’s, with matching $31.6MM and $33.6MM cap hits for the next two seasons after ’20/21. Because Jokic wouldn’t be able to sign a super-max until 2022 though, he could get a five-year extension at that point — if we once again assume annual 3% cap increases, that deal could be worth up to an eye-popping $242MM.
Zach LaVine (Bulls)
While Embiid and Jokic have clear paths to All-NBA spots in 2021, LaVine is a longer shot to get there. The Bulls guard is having the best year of his career and currently ranks sixth in the NBA with 28.7 points per game, but he’s not a strong defender and Chicago’s place in the standings is unlikely to do him any favors with All-NBA voters.
Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Luka Doncic, and James Harden look like the top contenders to fill the guard spots on the first two teams, which means LaVine would be competing with stars like Bradley Beal, Kyrie Irving, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons, and Jaylen Brown, among others, for a Third Team spot.
LaVine’s current deal pays him well below the max, at just $19.5MM annually, so earning an All-NBA spot would make him eligible for a massive raise. If we once again count on annual 3% salary cap increases, a super-max extension for LaVine would could be worth up to $235MM over five years, starting in 2022/23.
Even if he beats the odds and earns an All-NBA spot, LaVine seems unlikely to receive that sort of offer from the Bulls, who traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota when his super-max eligibility loomed a few years ago. But the super-max wrinkle would further complicate LaVine’s contract situation, which should be very interesting to monitor even if he falls short of an All-NBA team.
Because he’s earning just $19.5MM next season, LaVine would typically only be eligible for a four-year, $104.8MM veteran extension — the Bulls would almost certainly put that offer on the table, but LaVine would probably pass, since he’d be eligible for a far higher salary as a free agent in 2022.
It’s worth considering, however, that Chicago projects to have a significant chunk of cap room available during the 2021 offseason, giving the team the option of renegotiating the final year of LaVine’s contract to give him a raise and a more lucrative extension. That may be the most likely outcome for the first-time All-Star, who is a super-max long shot but is still likely to command more than the $26MM annual salary the Bulls can offer without a renegotiation.
Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
To be clear, Doncic will not be eligible for a starting salary worth 35% of the salary cap on his next contract. But the Mavericks star is being mentioned here because he’ll likely become eligible for a lesser form of the “super-max” contract.
When a former first-round pick is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, he’s eligible to sign a rookie scale extension that starts at 25% of the cap. But if that player has met the super-max performance criteria listed at the top of this story (based on MVP, DPOY, or All-NBA honors), his rookie scale extension can instead start at 30% of the cap.
Most of the time, a player who signs a rookie scale extension that can start at 30% of the cap does so conditionally — for instance, Jayson Tatum was on the 2019/20 All-NBA Third Team, then signed a rookie scale extension prior to the ’20/21 season. Because his extension will go into effect next season, Tatum still has to earn an All-NBA spot again this season to meet the super-max criteria (an All-NBA spot in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons) and to qualify for that 30% starting salary.
Doncic, on the other hand, has a chance to pull off a rare feat. Because he was named to the All-NBA First Team in just his second season, he’ll become eligible for a 30% starting salary if he earns All-NBA honors again this year, in his third season. It wouldn’t matter whether or not he’s an All-NBA player again in 2022, because he would have already met the necessary benchmark — two All-NBA berths in three years.
Assuming Doncic earns an All-NBA spot this season, which looks like a safe bet, he’d be eligible to sign a five-year rookie scale extension worth a projected $201.5MM, which would begin during the 2022/23 season.
Like Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, and De’Aaron Fox all signed rookie scale extensions in 2020 that will increase in value if they meet certain performance criteria, so they’re worth keeping an eye on this season too.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Veteran big man Joakim Noah is “effectively” retiring as a player, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the plan is for Noah to eventually retire as a Bull.
Noah, who turned 36 last Thursday, spent nine of his 13 seasons with the Bulls after being selected by the team with the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft. His best seasons came in Chicago, where he was the anchor of the team’s frontcourt under head coach Tom Thibodeau, playing alongside Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, and Luol Deng.
Noah earned an All-Star berth, as well as a spot on the All-Defensive First Team, in both 2013 and 2014. He was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for the 2013/14 season and was a member of the All-NBA First Team that year as well. He also received an All-Defensive Second Team nod in 2011.
The former Florida Gator standout had a decorated college career before entering the NBA, winning back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007 under head coach Billy Donovan.
Following his stint with the Bulls, Noah signed a four-year, $72MM contract with the Knicks during 2016’s infamous free agency period. He appeared in just 53 total games across two seasons in New York before being waived and stretched — his annual $6.4MM cap hits remain on the Knicks’ books through 2021/22.
Noah also enjoyed brief stints with the Grizzlies in 2018/19 and Clippers in ’19/20. When Noah was waived by Los Angeles at the start of training camp in December, agent Bill Duffy said his client would likely end up retiring.
When Noah officially signs a ceremonial contract with Chicago to retire as a Bull, he’ll be following in the footsteps of his former teammate Deng, who did the same thing in 2019.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Tonight’s game between the Bulls and Raptors has been postponed, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The decision was made because Toronto doesn’t have the league minimum of eight players available due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing (Twitter link).
The Raptors are dealing with a virus outbreak that affected Pascal Siakam and most of their coaching staff for Friday’s game. At least one coach reportedly tested positive, while the rest are in quarantine. Siakam, who reportedly returned an inconclusive rapid test on Friday, is expected to be out of action through the All-Star break, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Toronto has two games remaining before the break, and both may be in jeopardy considering the league’s policy of being cautious amid coronavirus outbreaks. The Raptors are scheduled to host the Pistons on Tuesday and the Celtics on Thursday.
The Bulls shouldn’t be affected, as they just arrived in Florida on Saturday, tweets K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports. They will return home for Monday’s game against the Nuggets. It remains to be seen if today’s news will have any effect on the Rockets, Toronto’s opponent on Friday, who are scheduled to face the Grizzlies tonight.
The Raptors had been one of just four teams without a postponement during the first half of the season, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The only remaining unaffected teams are the Lakers, Clippers, and Nets.
Tonight’s game is the 34th to be postponed since the season began, and the 30th caused by the virus. Three others were due to harsh weather in Texas last week and one was a scheduling choice to accommodate a makeup game. You can see the complete list here.
Luke Kornet has taken Daniel Gafford‘s spot in the Bulls‘ rotation as coach Billy Donovan looks for better floor spacing, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Gafford began the season as Chicago’s primary back-up center, but has seen only limited action for the past two weeks. Kornet’s shot hasn’t been falling since the change, but having another three-point threat on the court puts pressure on opposing defenses.
“They’re worried about him shooting the ball,” Donovan said. “That just creates space in itself. And I think sometimes when you look at Gaff and (Thaddeus Young) together where maybe Thad is on the perimeter or Gaff is up at the top, or Gaff is low and Thad is on the perimeter, sometimes the floor spacing can be a little bit more difficult or challenging. It’s up to me to be a little more creative to try to work with those two guys together. But it’s been more just trying to create that gravity on the 3-point line where teams are a little bit more apprehensive to load up.”
Kornet is thrilled to have the opportunity after appearing in just two of the season’s first 23 games. The 25-year-old has an expiring contract and faces an uncertain NBA future if he can’t get playing time.
“It’s been great to play,” he said. “… I think, especially early on, I was just getting my legs under me. It took a minute. But I feel like I’m starting to do better just in terms of being able to help us control what shots we’re giving up and just make everything contested. And then offensively, just trying to space and keep the ball moving is the primary thing I’m trying to do.”
There’s more from Chicago:
- The Bulls will hold an organizational meeting during the All-Star break to plot their strategy for the trade deadline, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago-Sun Times. Cowley speculates on what the team might be able to get in return for its most valuable trade assets: Young, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine.
- Even though Otto Porter Jr. won’t play again until after the break, there’s good news about the veteran forward, Cowley adds in a separate story. Donovan said Friday that Porter is starting to make progress with the back issues that have bothered him almost the entire season. ‘‘He’s been able to do a lot more the last three days,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘He’s ramped up quite a bit where he’s running, doing conditioning, shooting. There’s still no contact, but I was on the court with him (Thursday).’’
- Chris Paul‘s performance as the Suns won Friday in Chicago exposed the huge need the Bulls still have at point guard, observes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports. Chicago committed 19 turnovers in the game, including 10 in the fourth quarter as Phoenix pulled away.
- The back spasms that have kept Bulls forward Otto Porter Jr. on the shelf for the last 12 games will keep him sidelined through the All-Star break, head coach Billy Donovan said on Friday, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. The team also isn’t expecting Lauri Markkanen (shoulder) back until sometime after the break.
- The Bulls have played some of their best basketball this season with Lauri Markkanen unavailable, going 5-9 with the power forward in the lineup and 10-7 without him. However, head coach Billy Donovan still believes that the injured Markkanen is an “important piece to our team,” as Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes. Markkanen will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end.
Zach LaVine is enjoying a career year in Billy Donovan‘s first season with the Bulls, and the success of that pairing bodes well for the team’s long-term outlook, says K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Donovan won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, and word around the NBA suggests that LaVine won’t be either, Johnson adds.
With LaVine expected to be unavailable on the trade market in the coming weeks, the Bulls’ most valuable trade chip could be Thaddeus Young. ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) says a handful of league executives identified Young as a player who could impact the playoff race if he’s moved, noting that he’s a versatile big man on a reasonable contract who has plenty of postseason experience.
The Bulls currently hold the sixth seed in the East and figure to be in the mix for a playoff spot – perhaps via the play-in tournament – but Marks argues the club should take a big-picture view and consider moving Young, especially if a team is willing to give up a first-round pick for him.
Johnson, on the other hand, contends in a separate NBC Sports Chicago story that moving Young for anything short of a lottery pick or a very promising young player might be a mistake. As Johnson explains, the veteran forward has had a positive impact on LaVine on and off the court, and LaVine and the Bulls’ other young players need to get some postseason experience at some point — Young could play an important role in helping get them there.
It’s “highly unlikely” Lauri Markkanen will play again before the All-Star break, writes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports. Meeting with reporters before tonight’s game, Bulls coach Billy Donovan provided an update on Markkanen, who has missed the last nine contests with a sprained right shoulder.
“He makes progress, but he has not done anything contact-wise, he’s done nothing that at this point in time would show us that he’s going to be back within the next week,” Donovan said. “Could it happen? Sure. Do I feel like it’s likely it’s going to happen? Probably not.”
Markkanen’s original prognosis was two to four weeks, and Johnson notes that the full four weeks will take him to March 8, three days before the Bulls start the second half of their season. Markkanen has played in 14 of Chicago’s first 30 games and is averaging a career-high 19.1 PPG.
“The biggest challenge I think for Lauri right now is because of the injury, if he reinjures it or hurts it again relatively quickly on his return, it’s going to almost put him back to ground zero again,” Donovan said. “So he’s working with the medical staff and he’s doing what he can physically to keep himself in condition.”
There’s more from Chicago:
- Zach LaVine has higher goals now that he has been named an All-Star for the first time, notes Sam Smith of NBA.com. “You want to be MVP of a championship team,” he said Tuesday after learning that he had been selected as a reserve. “Obviously, if we continue to play the right way and I’m playing at a high level, I can see myself as All-NBA team. If I continue to up my defense and being consistent, I can see myself as an All-Defensive team guy.”
- Second-year swingman Adam Mokoka, who is on a two-way contract, has been transferred to the G League and will join the Austin Spurs, the Bulls announced (via Twitter). He has seen limited playing time in seven games this season.
The 2021 NBA All-Star reserves have been revealed. Below is the full rundown of the 14 players scheduled to join the previously announced 10 starters for the March 7 contest in Atlanta. All-Star reserves are selected by the league’s head coaches.
Eastern Conference Reserves:
- Guard: James Harden, Nets
- Guard:Jaylen Brown, Celtics
- Guard: Ben Simmons, Sixers
- Guard: Zach LaVine, Bulls
- Frontcourt: Jayson Tatum, Celtics
- Frontcourt: Julius Randle, Knicks
- Frontcourt: Nikola Vučević Magic
Notable omissions this season include recent Heat All-Stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, two-time Bucks All-Star Khris Middleton, recent Hawks All-Star point guard Trae Young, Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, recent Pacers All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis, and Sixers forward Tobias Harris.
Brown, LaVine, and Randle are making their All-Star debuts. Harden is the most decorated among the All-Star vets among the East reserves, as he will be appearing in his ninth All-Star contest.
Western Conference Reserves:
- Guard: Chris Paul, Suns
- Guard: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers
- Guard: Donovan Mitchell, Jazz
- Frontcourt: Paul George, Clippers
- Frontcourt: Anthony Davis, Lakers
- Frontcourt: Rudy Gobert, Jazz
- Frontcourt: Zion Williamson, Pelicans
Lillard, who just barely missed out on a starting nod to Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, earns his sixth All-Star mention as he mounts a sleeper MVP campaign with the Trail Blazers. Paul will be playing in his 11th All-Star game, for a fourth different team (he did not earn an All-Star nod in either of his two Rockets seasons, but made it with the Clippers, New Orleans Hornets, and Thunder).
Snubs in the West include recent Suns All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker, Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan, and 33-year-old Jazz point guard Mike Conley, the latter of whom may go down in history as the best NBA player never to make an All-Star team. Williamson, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft, is a first-time All-Star. Last year, his teammate Brandon Ingram made his own All-Star debut.
Conley may still have his day in the sun, however. Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register notes that Lakers All-Star big man Davis, recovering from a right calf strain, will likely not be healthy in time to partake in the currently-planned All-Star game, and thus another Western Conference All-Star should eventually be named by NBA commissioner Adam Silver to replace the eight-time All-Star.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.