- The Cavaliers and J.B. Bickerstaff are working to set up a meeting for next week, sources tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Bickerstaff said on Wednesday that he’s “definitely interested” in Cleveland’s head coaching job. Vardon also confirms that Juwan Howard and Jamahl Mosley are the only candidates who have formally interviewed with the Cavs so far.
- The Cavaliers remain interested in Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez, but have yet to officially line up an interview, league sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Denver remains alive in the playoffs, so the Cavs will have to work around the Nuggets’ schedule.
The Cavaliers requested and were granted permission to interview Jazz assistant Alex Jensen for their head coaching position, league sources tell Joe Vardon and Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to the Athletic duo, the meeting is expected to take place sometime next week.
The news doesn’t come as a surprise, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this month that the Cavs were expected to meet with Jensen sometime after Utah’s season ended. The Jazz fell to the Rockets on Wednesday night, bringing their first-round series – and their season – to a close.
As Vardon observes (via Twitter), Jensen is one of many candidates with pre-existing ties to Cleveland — he served as the head coach of the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ G League affiliate from 2011-13 before joining the Jazz.
Of the Cavaliers’ other head coaching targets, Jamahl Mosley and Nate Tibbetts were previously a part of coaching staffs in Cleveland, while J.B. Bickerstaff‘s father Bernie Bickerstaff was also a Cavs assistant a few years ago.
Heat assistant Juwan Howard and Trail Blazers assistant David Vanterpool are among the other coaches who have either interviewed for the Cavs’ job or will do so soon.
Former Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff is “definitely interested” in the Cavaliers’ head coaching opening, he said in a SiruisXM interview with Mitch Lawrence, Zach Harper and Sarah Kustok (Twitter link). “It would be an honor to have an opportunity to work with that group,” said Bickerstaff, who was fired by Memphis two weeks ago. Bickerstaff is reportedly on Cleveland’s radar screen, though there has been no indication if he’ll be interviewed for the job.
The Suns let head coach Igor Kokoskov walk after just one season and Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the team will also let go of all of his coaching and player development staff. Phoenix’s next head coach will have the ability to build his or her staff from the ground up.
Here’s more from around the league:
- The Cavaliers are interested in J.B. Bickerstaff for their head coaching gig, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Bickerstaff, who spent the past two seasons as the Grizzlies’ coach, may “formally” be added to the team’s coaching search, which Stein hears is in its early stages.
- As of Tuesday afternoon, Luke Walton‘s job with the Kings remains safe, Sam Amick of The Athletic hears. The franchise is working with the league to investigate the accusations against Walton and unveil the truth.
- The Kings had interviews for assistant coaching positions scheduled prior to the allegations surfaced and those took place today with GM Vlade Divac and Walton conducting the meetings. Former Suns and Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek was one of the interviewees, Amick writes in the same piece.
The Cavaliers have received permission from the Trail Blazers to interview Nate Tibbetts and David Vanterpool in their search for a new head coach, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Both Tibbetts and Vanterpool were previously mentioned as potential targets for the role, as our Head Coaching Search Tracker shows.
Cleveland plans to conduct an interview with each candidate, but the franchise will be sensitive to Portland’s playoff run in the scheduling, writes Tom Withers of The Associated Press.
Tyronn Lue, who is in the running for the Lakers’ gig, began the season as the Cavs’ coach before the team fired him and handed duties over to Larry Drew. Drew was always seen as a stopgap coach, guiding the team through a season of injuries.
Heat assistant Juwan Howard and Mavs assistant Jamahl Mosley are among the candidates Cleveland is considering for the position. The franchise has no timetable to make a hire.
- The Cavaliers are denying a report that they have talked to Rick Pitino in their coaching search, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “False. We are, respectfully, not interested in him at all,” a source told Fedor. “No conversations with him by (team chairman) Dan (Gilbert) or anyone else.”
- The Cavaliers are expected to re-examine the trade market for guard J.R. Smith, who mutually agreed to part ways with the team this season. “We have a trade chip in J.R. Smith, and his contract, where we can take on some money that other teams are trying to get some cap relief from,” general manager Koby Altman said last week, as relayed by Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “We are actually the only team in the NBA that can provide guaranteed cap relief until July 1. We can guarantee that right now and we actually had a phone call (Thursday) on that trade chip, so, we’re going to keep on being aggressive adding those assets because we do eventually want to consolidate and be really good at some point.” Smith, who turns 34 in September, is set to make $15.6MM next year in the final season of his contract, but most of that money is non-guaranteed.
APRIL 19, 9:45pm: The Lakers will meet with Howard on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
APRIL 14, 2:28pm: Members of the Lakers’ front office will travel to meet with Williams sometime after Game 2 of the Sixers’ playoff series, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
APRIL 14, 2:14pm: The Lakers have received permission to talk to Heat assistant Juwan Howard about their head coaching vacancy, tweets ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. An interview will probably take place next week, she adds.
Howard is the third name to appear in the Lakers’ coaching search since they parted ways with Luke Walton on Friday. L.A. also plans to discuss the job with former Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue next week and has gotten permission from the Sixers to interview assistant coach Monty Williams.
Earlier today, we told you that Howard and Jamahl Mosley will interview to replace Larry Drew in Cleveland
As we detailed last week, five NBA teams finished the 2018/19 season in luxury tax territory, with the Thunder, Warriors, Raptors, Trail Blazers, and Celtics on the hook for an estimated total of $153.5MM in tax payments.
It was the first time since 2016’s salary cap spike that as many as five teams were taxpayers, and the projected league-wide tax payments of $153.5MM appears to be a new high. While two teams – Oklahoma City and Golden State – contributed significantly to that figure, the rising number of clubs in the tax reflects that teams are once again going well over the salary cap, as annual cap increases have slowed in recent years.
Listed below are the NBA’s taxpayers for the last five seasons, based on data from ESPN, Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ, and our own records.
As this list shows, the Thunder, Warriors, and Cavaliers were each taxpayers in three of the last four seasons, making those teams eligible for repeater-tax penalties if they finish in tax territory again in 2019/20. Repeater penalties are more punitive — the tax for every dollar spent above the tax line starts at $2.50 rather than $1.50. As such, those teams figure to do their best to avoid excessive spending next season.
The 2019/20 tax line is expected to be around $132MM, based on the NBA’s latest cap projections, and the Thunder already have nearly $138MM in guaranteed salaries on their books, per Basketball Insiders. The Cavaliers are at about $123MM, but may increase that figure substantially if they trade J.R. Smith‘s non-guaranteed contract for guaranteed salary. As for the Warriors, they’re only at $82MM in guaranteed money, but would be at risk of going well into the tax if they re-sign Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.
As we prepare to keep an eye on those teams’ spending this offseason, here are the reported luxury tax figures from the last five NBA seasons:
2018/19
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $61.6MM
- Golden State Warriors: $51.5MM
- Toronto Raptors: $21.4MM
- Portland Trail Blazers: $15.1MM
- Boston Celtics: $3.9MM
Total: $153.5MM
Note: This season’s figures are still subject to change, based on postseason-related contract incentives.
2017/18
- Cleveland Cavaliers ($50.7MM)
- Golden State Warriors ($32.3MM)
- Oklahoma City Thunder ($25.4MM)
- Washington Wizards ($7MM)
Total: $115.4MM
2016/17
- Cleveland Cavaliers ($24.8MM)
- Los Angeles Clippers ($3.6MM)
Total: $28.4MM
2015/16
- Cleveland Cavaliers ($54MM)
- Los Angeles Clippers ($19.9MM)
- Golden State Warriors ($14.8MM)
- Oklahoma City Thunder ($14.5MM)
- Houston Rockets ($4.9MM)
- San Antonio Spurs ($4.9MM)
- Chicago Bulls ($4.2MM)
Total: $117.2MM
2014/15
- Brooklyn Nets ($20MM)
- Cleveland Cavaliers ($7MM)
- New York Knicks ($6.9MM)
- Los Angeles Clippers ($4.8MM)
- Oklahoma City Thunder ($2.8MM)
Total: $41.5MM
Information from Basketball Insiders, Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ, and ESPN’s Bobby Marks was used in the creation of this post.
After four straight NBA Finals appearances, the 2018/19 season was one of transition for the Cavaliers, who lost their best player (LeBron James), dismissed their head coach (Tyronn Lue), and shifted their focus to the future. While Cleveland may have moved on mentally from those LeBron-led squads, the team’s cap sheet is still catching up — many of the Cavs’ priciest veteran contracts run for one more year.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Cavaliers financially, as we launch our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- Kevin Love ($28,942,830)
- Tristan Thompson ($18,539,130)
- Brandon Knight ($15,643,750)
- Jordan Clarkson ($13,437,500)
- Larry Nance Jr. ($12,727,273)
- John Henson ($10,482,396)
- Matthew Dellavedova ($9,607,500)
- Collin Sexton ($4,764,960)
- J.R. Smith ($3,870,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. 1
- Cedi Osman ($2,907,143)
- Ante Zizic ($2,281,800)
- Total: $123,204,282
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- J.R. Smith ($11,810,000) 1
- Total: $11,810,000
Restricted Free Agents
- David Nwaba ($1,890,751 qualifying offer / $1,890,751 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Deng Adel (two-way qualifying offer / $1,443,842 cap hold) 2
- Jaron Blossomgame (two-way qualifying offer / $1,443,842 cap hold) 2
- Total: $4,778,435
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- No. 5 overall pick ($6,392,760)
- No. 26 overall pick ($2,033,160)
- Marquese Chriss ($4,078,236): Bird rights 3
- Channing Frye ($1,618,486): Retiring
- Nik Stauskas ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $18,067,328
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistically, there’s no way the Cavaliers will be able to create cap room for 2019/20. Dumping salary to get under the cap would almost certainly mean attaching assets that they’ve accumulated during their rebuild, and since they were willing to take on salary to acquire those assets in the first place, it would be counter-intuitive to switch gears now.
- In fact, with $123MM+ in guaranteed money already on their books for 2019/20 and the possibility of adding even more salary if they can find a favorable J.R. Smith trade, the Cavs will likely be more concerned with staying below the $132MM luxury tax line than with finding a way to create cap space.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Trade exception: $2,760,095 (expires 12/9/19)
- Trade exception: $1,544,951 (expires 2/7/20)
- Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 2/7/20)
- Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 4
- Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 4
Footnotes
- Smith’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
- The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap, but their cap holds do during the offseason.
- Because Chriss’ fourth-year rookie scale option was declined, the Cavaliers are ineligible to offer him a starting salary greater than his cap hold.
- These are projected values. Additionally, the Cavaliers will not be able to use these exceptions if their team salary exceeds the tax apron. In that scenario, they’d instead receive the taxpayer mid-level exception, worth a projected $5,711,000.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.