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NBA Maximum Salary Projections For 2022/23

[UPDATE: The NBA has updated its salary cap projection for 2022/23. Our new maximum salary projections for ’22/23 can be found here.]

Although several big-money free agent contracts were completed during the offseason, the majority of the most lucrative deals signed by NBA players in 2021 have been contract extensions. And many of those extensions have been maximum-salary deals.

[RELATED: 2021/22 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

Because those extensions won’t go into effect until at least the 2022/23 season and the NBA won’t finalize the ’22/23 salary cap until next summer, we can only ballpark what many of year’s maximum-salary contracts will look like based on the league’s latest cap estimates.

When the NBA confirmed its salary cap data for the 2021/22 season on August 2, the league also updated its cap projection for the ’22/23 campaign, estimating a $119MM cap. As such, we’re basing our figures on that $119MM projection.

Listed below are the early maximum-salary projections for 2022/23. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous club can offer five years instead of four, and 8% annual raises instead of 5% raises. The second chart shows the maximum salaries for a player signing with a new team.

A player’s maximum salary is generally determined by his years of NBA experience, so there’s a wide gap between potential earnings for younger and older players. Unless they qualify for a more lucrative extension by meeting certain performance criteria, players with no more than six years of NBA experience are limited to a starting salary worth up to 25% of the cap. For players with seven to nine years of experience, that number is 30%. For players with 10 or more years of experience, it’s 35%.

Here are the the early max-salary projections for 2022/23:


A player re-signing with his own team (8% annual raises, up to five years):

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2022/23 $29,750,000 $35,700,000 $41,650,000
2023/24 $32,130,000 $38,556,000 $44,982,000
2024/25 $34,510,000 $41,412,000 $48,314,000
2025/26 $36,890,000 $44,268,000 $51,646,000
2026/27 $39,270,000 $47,124,000 $54,978,000
Total $172,550,000 $207,060,000 $241,570,000

The “6 years or less” column here is what the new extensions for Trae Young and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will look like if neither makes an All-NBA team in 2022. Both players have Rose Rule language in their contracts, however, and could move up to the 30% max column (“7-9 years”) if certain criteria are met.

Luka Doncic has already met those criteria by making the All-NBA team in each of the last two seasons, so the 30% max column reflects his new extension.

The third column (35%) doesn’t apply to any extensions signed this offseason, but if a veteran star like Bradley Beal or Kyrie Irving were to sign a new maximum-salary contract that goes into effect next season, those are the projected salaries they’d be eligible for. They’d have to opt for free agency to get the full $241MM+ over five years, since they can’t tack on that many new years in an extension.


A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2022/23 $29,750,000 $35,700,000 $41,650,000
2023/24 $31,237,500 $37,485,000 $43,732,500
2024/25 $32,725,000 $39,270,000 $45,815,000
2025/26 $34,212,500 $41,055,000 $47,897,500
Total $127,925,000 $153,510,000 $179,095,000

If a player changes teams as a free agent, he doesn’t have access to a fifth year or 8% raises. So if someone like Deandre Ayton or Michael Porter Jr. were to sign an offer sheet with a new team next summer, he’d be limited to a four-year deal projected to be worth just shy of $128MM. Of course, there’s still plenty of time for the Suns and Nuggets to extend Ayton and Porter this offseason.

If Zach LaVine – or another veteran with between seven and nine years of NBA experience – wants to change teams in 2022, he would be able to sign a four-year contract worth up to a projected $153.51MM.

Beal, Irving, or another veteran with 10+ years of experience would be limited to about $179MM across four years if they change teams as free agents in 2022.

Community Shootaround: Paul Millsap And J.J. Redick

As the dust settles on another free agency/trade market, there are two names conspicuously absent from rosters: J.J. Redick and Paul Millsap.

Redick’s absence is understandable, as he was vocally disappointed with how he was treated by the Pelicans, who traded him mid-season to the Mavericks in the midst of Redick’s least product year since the 2008/09 season. Redick has been clear on his desire to take his time, enjoy the summer with his family, and not make a decision until at least the fall.

Redick was also limited in the 2020/21 season by a heel injury that kept him out of the Mavericks’ playoff run and bothered him throughout much of the season. Teams interested in his service will be sure to do their due diligence on how his recovery has gone, and whether that will be a lingering issue.

Millsap’s lengthy free agency is a little more surprising. Though the 36-year-old forward is clearly slowing down a bit in recent years, he was still an important part of the Nuggets’ success over the last four seasons, as a versatile team defender who shot over 37% from three in his Denver tenure.

With defense and shooting a premium commodity from the power forward spot, Millsap’s skill set would be very useful to a number of contending teams, or teams looking to make the push into contention. In previous reporting, Millsap has been linked to the Warriors, Timberwolves, Hawks, Nets, Pelicans, and Sixers, which leads to an interesting philosophical question for the veteran.

If Millsap were to go to a team like the Timberwolves, he would likely play a relatively large amount of minutes, as second-year defensive standout Jaden McDaniels, Jake Layman and current RFA Jarred Vanderbilt are the only forwards on the team’s roster. He could join a young team desperate to start winning, and provide an ideal counterpart to the elite shooting of Karl-Anthony Towns.

But his lack of rush in signing a deal also points to a potential desire to do more than get minutes for a likely middling team. With the Warriors, Millsap could fill a role very similar to the one Blake Griffin provided for the Nets last season, and, depending on the growth and health of last year’s number two overall pick James Wiseman, could possibly even start alongside Draymond Green. Millsap’s IQ, defensive versatility and shooting prowess would make him an ideal fit in Golden State’s system, and helping Stephen Curry and the Warriors regain their contender status could hold a lot of appeal for a player who has only won two career Conference Finals games.

The Warriors still have their taxpayer mid-level exception, meaning they could offer up to $5.9MM to Millsap, though the tax bill from doing so would be immense.

With the Bucks, Millsap could provide a similar role. After losing P.J. Tucker to the Heat, the Bucks remain very shallow in the frontcourt, with Bobby Portis and raw second-year player Mamadi Diakite as the team’s only depth. Millsap could provide a similar role to Tucker, but as more of a threat from deep.

Meanwhile, the Nets are generally considered the most likely landing spot for Redick, who lives in Brooklyn already and loves New York. There have even been rumblings that Redick might consider retirement if he doesn’t land with the Nets or Knicks. But between Kyrie Irving, Patty Mills, James Harden, Joe Harris, and this year’s first-round pick Cameron Thomas, the Nets are already overflowing with hot-shooting guards who are defensive question marks, and it’s unclear what kind of role Redick would command.

The Knicks, who have also been mentioned as a team Redick could be interested in, have a similar guard log-jam, with Evan Fournier, second-year standout Immanuel Quickley, Alec Burks, and first-round pick Quentin Grimes all likely to see time at the shooting guard position.

So that brings us to the question of the day: Which teams will Redick and Millsap end up with? And will they sign before the season, or after the season’s already underway?

Take to the comments to let us know!

The Differences Between This Year’s Maximum Contracts

So far in August, eight players who have been eligible for either free agency or an extension have signed what we’d traditionally consider maximum-salary contracts, while another three have agreed to extensions worth the maximum they could be offered. Hardly any of these 11 contracts project to be worth the same amounts, providing a case study in just how different a “maximum” NBA contract can look from player to player.

With the help of our glossary entry on maximum salaries and contract data from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac, we’re going to break down these 11 deals and explain how the “maximum” values were determined in each case and why the contracts look so different.

Let’s dive in…


Kawhi Leonard

Of all the players who signed maximum-salary contracts this offseason, Leonard has perhaps the most straightforward deal. After he declined his player option for 2021/22 on August 1, the two-time Finals MVP entered free agency as a player with 10 years of NBA experience under his belt. That meant that he qualified for a starting salary worth 35% of the cap, which is the maximum for players with 10+ years of service.

Although the Clippers didn’t have the cap room to accommodate that sort of deal, they held Leonard’s Early Bird rights, which gave them the ability to offer either 175% of his previous salary or the league-wide max (35% of the cap), whichever was lesser. Leonard made approximately $34.4MM this past season, so 175% of that amount would’ve exceeded $60MM, far above the allowable maximum. Instead, he was limited to 35% of this year’s $112,414,000 cap, which worked out to a starting salary of $39,344,900.

Because he didn’t have full Bird rights, Leonard was only eligible to sign a contract of up to four years instead of five. There was some speculation that Kawhi might ink another short-term deal in order to gain full Bird rights in 2022 and sign a five-year contract at that point, but he opted for a four-year agreement instead.

Like all the other contracts on this list, Leonard’s new deal includes 8% annual raises. Here’s what it looks like:

Year Salary
2021/22 $39,344,900
2022/23 $42,492,492
2023/24 $45,640,084
2024/25 $48,787,676
Total $176,265,152

Luka Doncic

Doncic is entering the fourth year of his rookie scale contract, which made him one of two dozen players eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason. Typically, an extension for a player with fewer than seven years of NBA experience can only be worth up to 25% of the cap in the first year of the deal. However, a CBA clause known colloquially as the “Rose rule” allows that number to increase to 30%.

Named after Derrick Rose, who won an MVP award in 2011 while still on his rookie scale contract, the Rose rule allows a player to qualify for that bump to 30% if he meets at least one of these three criteria at the end of his four-year rookie contract:

  • The player was named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons.
  • The player was named Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons.
  • The player was named Most Valuable Player in any of the past three seasons.

Because rookie scale extensions are signed a year early (Doncic’s will begin in 2022/23), it’s rare for a player to have met any of these criteria by the time he signs his deal. For instance, if Doncic had earned his first All-NBA nod in 2020/21, he wouldn’t meet any of the above criteria, since ’20/21 isn’t the “most recent season” before his contract begins — he’d have to do it again in ’21/22 to meet the criteria.

However, because Doncic actually earned All-NBA spots in both 2019/20 and 2020/21, he has already met the required criteria and qualifies for a starting salary worth 30% of the 2022/23 cap. If he doesn’t make the All-NBA team again in ’21/22, he’ll still have done so in two of the three seasons before his extension begins.

Even with that knowledge, we don’t know yet exactly what Doncic’s second deal with the Mavericks will look like, since it hinges on the exact value of the 2022/23 cap. Still, we can map out a projection based on the NBA’s most recent estimate of a $119MM cap for ’22/23. If the cap comes in at $119MM, 30% would be $35,700,000, and Doncic’s extension would look like this:

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Longest-Tenured NBA Head Coaches

As we detailed on Wednesday, 2021 has been an eventful year on the NBA’s coaching carousel. After two teams made in-season coaching changes, seven more hired new head coaches since the regular season ended, meaning nearly a third of the league’s 30 teams have replaced their head coaches since in the last six-plus months.

While some teams, such as the Pelicans and Pacers, sought new head coaches less than a year after making their previous hires, a number of the coaches who were replaced this offseason had been with their respective teams for quite a while.

Rick Carlisle (Mavericks), Terry Stotts (Trail Blazers), and Brad Stevens (Celtics) each ranked among the top five longest-tenured coaches in the league up until this spring. They’ve all since been replaced by new faces. Scott Brooks (Wizards) was also one of just nine coaches who had been with his club for at least five years. He’s gone too.

Given the turnover in the head coaching ranks, it’s time we update our list sorting the NBA’s 30 head coaches by when they were hired. Here’s the current breakdown of the league’s longest-tenured head coaches by team:


  1. Gregg Popovich, Spurs: December 1996
  2. Erik Spoelstra, Heat: April 2008
  3. Steve Kerr, Warriors: May 2014
  4. Quin Snyder, Jazz: June 2014
  5. Michael Malone, Nuggets: June 2015
  6. James Borrego, Hornets: May 10, 2018
  7. Mike Budenholzer, Bucks: May 17, 2018
  8. Dwane Casey, Pistons: June 11, 2018
  9. Nick Nurse, Raptors: June 14, 2018
  10. Luke Walton, Kings: April 2019
  11. Monty Williams, Suns: May 3, 2019
    • Note: Williams remained a Sixers assistant through the end of Philadelphia’s playoff run.
  12. Frank Vogel, Lakers: May 13, 2019
  13. Taylor Jenkins, Grizzlies: June 2019
  14. J.B. Bickerstaff, Cavaliers: February 2020
  15. Tom Thibodeau, Knicks: July 2020
  16. Steve Nash, Nets: September 3, 2020
  17. Billy Donovan, Bulls: September 22, 2020
  18. Doc Rivers, Sixers: October 3, 2020
  19. Tyronn Lue, Clippers: October 20, 2020
  20. Stephen Silas, Rockets: October 30, 2020
  21. Mark Daigneault, Thunder: November 2020
  22. Chris Finch, Timberwolves: February 2021
  23. Nate McMillan, Hawks: March 2021
    • Note: McMillan was an interim head coach until being named the permanent coach on July 8, 2021.
  24. Rick Carlisle, Pacers: June 24, 2021
  25. Chauncey Billups, Trail Blazers: June 27, 2021
  26. Ime Udoka, Celtics: June 28, 2021
  27. Jason Kidd, Mavericks: June 28, 2021
  28. Jamahl Mosley, Magic: July 11, 2021
  29. Wes Unseld Jr., Wizards: July 17, 2021
  30. Willie Green, Pelicans: July 22, 2021

2021 NBA Head Coaching Carousel Recap

Over the last few weeks, NBA teams have been overhauling their rosters, signing free agents, making trades, and locking up their draft picks to contracts. Prior to the draft and free agency though, several teams completed another major offseason change that shouldn’t be overlooked — over a quarter of the NBA’s clubs named a new permanent head coach.

One of the eight teams that named a new permanent coach this offseason simply retained a familiar face. Nate McMillan took over as the Hawks‘ interim coach halfway through the 2020/21 season, and the job he did the rest of the way, leading Atlanta to the Eastern Conference Finals, ensured the team wasn’t going to seek out a replacement.

The other seven teams, however, will have a new face on the sidelines to start the 2021/22. Here’s a recap of this offseason’s head coaching changes and a brief look at how they played out:


Boston Celtics

  • Hired: Ime Udoka (story)
  • Replaced: Brad Stevens (story)
  • Contract details: Multiyear deal (specifics unknown)
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Jerome Allen, Chauncey Billups, Mike D’Antoni, Darvin Ham, Jay Larranaga, Charles Lee, Joe Mazzulla, Scott Morrison, Jamahl Mosley

The Celtics didn’t follow the usual script when making their head coaching change. Rather than being fired by the team, Stevens actually received a promotion to president of basketball operations, putting him in the unusual position of hiring his replacement.

Boston considered a mix of internal and external candidates before landing on Udoka, a former NBA player who was an assistant on Gregg Popovich‘s staff in San Antonio for seven years before also spending time with Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Udoka’s experience on Team USA’s staff at the 2019 World Cup worked in his favor, since he got to know Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart during that event.


Dallas Mavericks

  • Hired: Jason Kidd (story)
  • Replaced: Rick Carlisle (story)
  • Contract details: Four-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Jamahl Mosley, Terry Stotts

The Mavericks took another step forward in 2020/21, improving their regular season winning percentage for a third straight season. Although Dallas’ season ended with another first-round loss to the Clippers, those positive strides made it a little surprising that the team ended up making major changes to both its coaching staff and front office. Carlisle stepped down and the team parted ways with longtime president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson.

The searches for a new general manager and head coach occurred simultaneously, with owner Mark Cuban leading the process. He chose Nico Harrison to head up the team’s basketball operations department, and they quickly zeroed in on Kidd – a former All-Star and NBA champion with the Mavericks – as the choice for head coach.

The Mavs are hoping that Kidd learned from some of the mistakes he made during previous head coaching stints with the Nets and Bucks and will form a strong connection with franchise player Luka Doncic, who wasn’t always on the same page as Carlisle.


Indiana Pacers

  • Hired: Rick Carlisle (story)
  • Replaced: Nate Bjorkgren (story)
  • Contract details: Four-year, $29MM deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Steve Clifford, Brian Shaw, Terry Stotts

The Pacers’ head coaching change in 2020 looks like one of the worst moves of that offseason in hindsight. The team dismissed Nate McMillan due to his lack of success in the playoffs, but his replacement – Bjorkgren – was unable to even get the team to the postseason during his lone season at the helm.

After Bjorkgren’s brief and disastrous tenure, the Pacers will seek stability by bringing back Carlisle, who coached the team from 2003-07 and has recorded the 15th-most wins of any coach in NBA history. He’ll assume control of a veteran squad that looks capable of bouncing back and potentially securing a top-six spot in the East with better health luck in 2021/22.


New Orleans Pelicans

  • Hired: Willie Green (story)
  • Replaced: Stan Van Gundy (story)
  • Contract details: Multiyear deal (specifics unknown)
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Charles Lee, Jacque Vaughn, Fred Vinson, Teresa Weatherspoon

Like Bjorkgren in Indiana, Van Gundy proved to be a poor fit for his new team and lasted just one year before receiving his walking papers. When the Pelicans launched a search for their new head coach, they prioritized finding a candidate capable of connecting with the young players on the roster — especially Zion Williamson, who will be playing for his third coach in three years.

New Orleans initially appeared focused on Vaughn, but the Nets assistant withdrew from consideration in order to remain in Brooklyn. At that point, the Pelicans’ search narrowed to Green and Lee, with the Suns associate head coach ultimately winning out.

Green only has five years of experience as an assistant under his belt, but appeared in the NBA Finals in four of those five seasons with Golden State and Phoenix. And the fact that he’s only six years removed from being in the NBA as a player should help earn him some respect from a young Pelicans team.


Orlando Magic

  • Hired: Jamahl Mosley (story)
  • Replaced: Steve Clifford (story)
  • Contract details: Four-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Chauncey Billups, Jarron Collins, Mike D’Antoni, Willie Green, Becky Hammon, Penny Hardaway, Jason Kidd, Charles Lee, Terry Stotts, Ime Udoka, Wes Unseld Jr.

It didn’t seem as if the Magic were particularly eager to move on from Clifford, but the veteran coach wasn’t enthusiastic about embarking on another rebuild, so the two sides mutually agreed to parted ways a few weeks after Orlando’s season ended.

While some of the candidates reported to be on the Magic’s radar had previous head coaching experience, most were assistants who had a strong record of player development and wouldn’t mind growing along with a young, lottery-bound team. Orlando eventually chose Mosley, who was an assistant for the Nuggets and Cavaliers before spending the last seven seasons under Rick Carlisle in Dallas.


Portland Trail Blazers

  • Hired: Chauncey Billups (story)
  • Replaced: Terry Stotts (story)
  • Contract details: Five-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Jerome Allen, Brent Barry, Mike D’Antoni, Becky Hammon, Jason Kidd, Dawn Staley

Unable to get the Trail Blazers over the hump despite a long track record of regular season success, Stotts was let go by the Blazers this spring.

After reports stated that Damian Lillard would have a voice in Portland’s hiring process, the All-Star guard expressed public support for Kidd and Billups. When Kidd withdrew his name from consideration, reportedly uncomfortable with the idea of pursuing the job following Lillard’s public endorsement, Billups emerged as the frontrunner and beat out finalists D’Antoni and Hammon for the job.

Billups, who had a decorated career as a player, has long been viewed by people around the league as a good bet to be a successful NBA coach. He’ll get his chance in Portland, though the team could’ve handled the hiring better from a PR perspective.

The Blazers, who faced some backlash due to a 1997 sexual assault case involving the former All-Star guard, told reporters they thoroughly investigated that incident and came away confident that Billups hadn’t engaged in any wrongdoing. Subsequent reporting suggested that Portland’s investigation may not have been as exhaustive as the team claimed. However, any blow-back to the poorly-handled process seems more likely to affect president of basketball operations Neil Olshey than Billups.


Washington Wizards

  • Hired: Wes Unseld Jr. (story)
  • Replaced: Scott Brooks (story)
  • Contract details: Four-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly received consideration or interest: Sam Cassell, Chris Fleming, Willie Green, Darvin Ham, Charles Lee, Jamahl Mosley, Scott Morrison, Ronald Nored, Chris Quinn, Kevin Young

Halfway through the 2020/21 season, Brooks looked like the surest bet among the NBA’s 30 head coaches to be let go at season’s end. A second-half surge and a play-in tournament victory earned the Wizards a playoff berth and made the decision a little more difficult, but the team ultimately decided not to bring back Brooks, whose contract expired this year.

The Wizards, whose search focused exclusively on assistants without prior head coaching experience, narrowed their list down to four finalists — Unseld, Ham, Lee, and Mosley. After Mosley opted to take the Orlando job, Washington chose Unseld over the two Bucks assistants.

It was a logical choice for the Wizards, who gave Unseld his start as an assistant in 2005 and who employed his father (Wes Unseld Sr.) for years as a player, coach, and front office executive. However, Unseld Jr. earned the job on merit, not sentiment — he spent 16 years as an assistant in Washington, Golden State, Orlando, and Denver, and the Nuggets lobbied hard for him to get a head coaching opportunity they felt he deserved.

Community Shootaround: Which Team Has Had Best 2021 Offseason?

A handful of notable players – including Lauri Markkanen and Paul Millsap – remain available on the free agent market, and it’s possible we’ll still get action in the coming weeks on a trade involving a star like Ben Simmons or Damian Lillard. But for the time being, it looks like most NBA teams are finished with their major offseason roster moves.

With that in mind, David Aldridge of The Athletic ran through all 30 teams this week, ranking which clubs had the best and worst offseasons. As Aldridge explains within his piece(s), his list isn’t about which teams have the best roster heading into the 2021/22 season, but rather which teams made the summer moves he liked the most.

Even with that caveat in place, Aldridge’s top pick is still a bit of a surprise. The veteran reporter lists the Rockets as having the NBA’s No. 1 offseason, despite the fact that the team was fairly quiet on the trade market and made just one significant free agent addition (Daniel Theis). Houston’s offseason was primarily about adding four players draft in the top 24: Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba, and Josh Christopher.

While I didn’t see Aldridge’s top pick coming, I don’t believe that making big splashes in free agency and via trades is necessarily indicative of having a great offseason. For instance, no team made more noise on the free agent market than the Bulls, who added DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso. However, I didn’t like the price Chicago paid to get DeRozan, who will earn $27MM+ per year for the next three seasons and cost a first-round pick to acquire via sign-and-trade. Your mileage may vary — Aldridge ranked the Bulls at No. 4.

Rounding out Aldridge’s top five are the Clippers at No. 2, the Nets at No. 3, and the Lakers at No. 5. The Wizards, Hornets, Heat, Jazz, and Pistons also made the top 10.

I agree with some of those picks more than others. Aldridge’s rankings suggest a belief that the Russell Westbrook trade was a win-win for Los Angeles and Washington, but I preferred the Wizards’ return, since they badly needed to improve their depth and I’m not entirely sold yet on Westbrook’s fit with the Lakers.

A top-two ranking also seems a little generous for the Clippers, whose major moves were re-signing a star recovering from an ACL tear (Kawhi Leonard) to a four-year, maximum-salary deal and adding Eric Bledsoe, Justise Winslow, and a draft picks. Bledsoe is coming off a bad year and has struggled in the postseason, Winslow has had a hard time staying healthy, and those draftees are pretty raw.

However, I did like the team’s deals to bring back Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum — and if Leonard makes a full recovery and is back to his old self for the 2022/23 season, that investment should be worth it.

What do you think? Which clubs do you believe had the best offseasons in 2021? Are there any potential moves to be made in the coming weeks that could shake up your list?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Longest-Tenured Players By NBA Team

It hasn’t even been nine months since we last checked in on the NBA’s longest-tenured players by team. Since then though, there has been some major roster turnover around the league. Of the NBA’s 30 teams, 12 have bid farewell to their longest-tenured player since last December.

That list includes Patty Mills, who left San Antonio for Brooklyn after being with the Spurs for over nine years. Nikola Vucevic and James Harden had been in Orlando and Houston, respectively, since 2012 until they were traded earlier this year. And Kyle Lowry left Toronto for Miami this summer after nine seasons with the Raptors.

Of course, some of the teams with a new longest-tenured player didn’t exactly lose a franchise legend. Blake Griffin, for instance, was the longest-tenured Piston until he was bought out this year. And no Thunder player had been in Oklahoma City longer than Hamidou Diallo before he was traded in March.

Here are the NBA’s current longest-tenured players by team:

(Note: This is a snapshot as of August 2021 and won’t be updated throughout the season.)


  1. Miami Heat: Udonis Haslem (free agent), August 2003
  2. Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry (draft), June 2009
  3. Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal (draft), June 2012
  4. Portland Trail Blazers: Damian Lillard (draft), June 2012
  5. Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo (draft), June 2013
  6. Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert (draft trade), June 2013
  7. Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid (draft), June 2014
  8. Boston Celtics: Marcus Smart (draft), June 2014
  9. Denver Nuggets: Nikola Jokic (draft), June 2014
  10. Cleveland Cavaliers: Kevin Love (trade), August 2014
  11. Dallas Mavericks: Dwight Powell (trade), December 2014
  12. Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns (draft), June 2015
  13. Indiana Pacers: Myles Turner (draft), June 2015
  14. Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker (draft), June 2015
  15. Toronto Raptors: Pascal Siakam (draft), June 2016
  16. San Antonio Spurs: Dejounte Murray (draft), June 2016
  17. Houston Rockets: Eric Gordon (free agent), July 2016
  18. Brooklyn Nets: Joe Harris (free agent), July 2016
  19. Orlando Magic: Terrence Ross (trade), February 2017
  20. Sacramento Kings: Buddy Hield (trade), February 2017
  21. Atlanta Hawks: John Collins (draft), June 2017
  22. Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine (draft trade), June 2017
    • Note: Lauri Markkanen was acquired by the Bulls in the same trade as LaVine and would share the title of Chicago’s longest-tenured player if he re-signs with the team.
  23. Memphis Grizzlies: Dillon Brooks (draft trade), June 2017
  24. New York Knicks: Kevin Knox (draft) / Mitchell Robinson (draft), June 2018
    • Note: Knox (No. 9 pick) and Robinson (No. 36) were drafted by the Knicks on the same night.
  25. Charlotte Hornets: Miles Bridges (draft trade), June 2018
  26. Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James (free agent), July 2018
  27. New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson (draft), June 2019
  28. Los Angeles Clippers: Ivica Zubac (trade), February 2019
  29. Detroit Pistons: Sekou Doumbouya (draft), June 2019
  30. Oklahoma City Thunder: Darius Bazley (trade) / Luguentz Dort (free agent), July 2019
    • Bazley and Dort officially joined the Thunder on the same day (July 6, 2019). The team reached agreements on draft night (June 20) to acquire Bazley and sign Dort.

How Teams Are Using 2021/22 Bi-Annual Exceptions

The bi-annual exception is one of the tools available to NBA teams who are over the cap, giving those clubs the flexibility to offer free agents more than the minimum salary. In 2021/22, the bi-annual exception is worth $3,732,000, and can be used to offer a deal worth up to $7,650,600 over two years.

However, the bi-annual exception isn’t available to every team. Clubs that go below the cap in order to use cap room lose access to the exception. Additionally, using the BAE imposes a hard cap of $143,002,000 (the tax apron) on a club. So if a team has surpassed the tax apron – or wants to retain the flexibility to do so – that team can’t use the bi-annual exception.

Finally, as its name suggests, the bi-annual exception can’t be used by a team in consecutive years. In 2020/21, four teams used the BAE — the Nuggets (Facundo Campazzo), Lakers (Wesley Matthews), and Bucks (Bobby Portis) As such, the exception isn’t available to those clubs during the 2021/22 league year. They’ll be able to use it again next summer.

With all those factors in mind, here’s a breakdown of how teams are using – or not using – their respective bi-annual exceptions in 2021/22:


Available Bi-Annual Exceptions:

Unused:

  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Boston Celtics
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Houston Rockets
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Miami Heat
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Orlando Magic
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Portland Trail Blazers
  • Sacramento Kings
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Washington Wizards

Although all of these teams technically have the ability to use their bi-annual exceptions at some point in 2021/22, it’s more realistic for some than others. For instance, the Trail Blazers still have most of their mid-level exception available and are only about $7MM below the tax apron, so there’s virtually no chance they’ll end up using the BAE this season.

Used:

Typically, about three or four teams in a given league year use the bi-annual exception, but so far this season, Dallas is the only team that has done so. The Mavericks have shown a willingness to make use of the BAE when it’s available — they got it back this season after using it in 2019 to sign Boban Marjanovic.


Unavailable Bi-Annual Exceptions:

Went under cap:

  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Detroit Pistons
  • Memphis Grizzlies
  • New York Knicks
  • San Antonio Spurs

These five teams forfeited their right to the bi-annual exception when they went under the cap and used space this offseason.

Over (or near) tax apron:

  • Brooklyn Nets
  • Golden State Warriors
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Philadelphia 76ers
  • Utah Jazz

In theory, major cost-cutting moves by these teams could put them in position to use their bi-annual exceptions. In actuality though, that possibility is remote, especially for teams like the Nets, Warriors, and Clippers, who are far over the tax apron.

Used last year:

  • Denver Nuggets
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Milwaukee Bucks

As noted in the intro, these are the three teams that used their bi-annual exceptions in 2020/21 and, as a result, won’t have them again until 2022/23.


Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.

Community Shootaround: Lauri Markkanen

Most of the prominent free agents this summer have already been signed, but restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen remains in limbo.

The Bulls forward has been seeking a big offer sheet but that hasn’t come to fruition. With most teams having already eaten up their cap space, it’s unlikely to occur.

Markkanen could still be part of a sign-and-trade but there are complications. Teams such as the PelicansMavericks, Timberwolves and Celtics have been mentioned as potential destinations with the first two having the most interest.

The NBA’s investigation into the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade makes it unlikely Chicago would pursue another sign-and-trade until the league completes its probe. The Bulls are also reportedly driving a hard bargain. They want a first-round pick in return and don’t want to take on a long-term contract. Some of Markkanen’s reported suitors can absorb his contract in a traded player exception, depending upon the starting salary Markkanen would accept.

The main alternative for Markkanen would be to sign his $9MM qualifying offer, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Markkanen would likely be a second-unit player behind 2020 lottery pick Patrick Williams if he returns to Chicago.

This leads to our question of the day: Where do you think restricted free agent Lauri Markkanen will wind up this coming season?

Please take to the comments section to voice your opinion. We look forward to your input.

How Teams Are Using 2021/22 Mid-Level Exceptions

In addition to receiving approximately $112.4MM in cap room and being allowed to surpass that threshold in order to sign players using Bird Rights or the minimum salary exception, each NBA team also receives a mid-level exception. The value of this exception varies depending on a club’s total team salary.

A team that goes under the cap to use its available cap room, for instance, receives only a modest form of the MLE known as the room exception. An over-the-cap team receives the full mid-level exception, unless that team is also over the tax apron, in which case it gets a taxpayer version of the MLE that falls in between the full MLE and the room exception. We detailed the exact values of each form of mid-level exception earlier this offseason, but here’s a quick breakdown:

  • Room exception: Can be used for contracts up to two years, with a starting salary worth up to $4,910,000.
  • Taxpayer mid-level exception: Can be used for contracts up to three years, with a starting salary worth up to $5,890,000.
  • Full/non-taxpayer mid-level exception: Can be used for contracts up to four years, with a starting salary worth up to $9,536,000.
    • Note: Though its name suggests otherwise, using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception doesn’t mean a team can’t or won’t be above the tax line ($136,606,000) at season’s end; it simply means the team’s total salary can’t surpass the tax “apron” ($143,002,000).

Now that nearly all of the NBA’s teams have used up their cap space, it’s worth keeping an eye on which teams still have part or all of their mid-level exceptions available, which we’ll do in the space below. This list will be kept up to date throughout the 2021/22 league year.

Note: As of January 10, the value of the exceptions below began to prorate downward by 1/174th per day, based on the amount of the exception on Jan. 10. For instance, if a team had $1MM of its exception left on Jan. 10, it declines in value by $5,747 per day for the rest of the season.

Here’s where things currently stand:


Mid-Level Exception:

Non-taxpayer: $9,536,000
Taxpayer:
$5,890,000

Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

  • Used: $5,890,000 (Patty Mills)
  • Note: Limited to taxpayer mid-level exception.

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

Golden State Warriors

  • Used: $0
  • Note: Limited to taxpayer mid-level exception.

Houston Rockets

Indiana Pacers

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Lakers

  • Used: $5,000,000 (Kendrick Nunn)
  • Note: Limited to taxpayer mid-level exception.

Miami Heat

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Timberwolves

  • Used: $0

New Orleans Pelicans

Oklahoma City Thunder

Orlando Magic

Philadelphia 76ers

  • Used: $3,300,000 (Georges Niang); $925,258 (Charles Bassey)
  • Note: The Sixers could technically use more than taxpayer portion of mid-level exception, but are in the tax and likely won’t.

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

Sacramento Kings

Toronto Raptors

Utah Jazz

  • Used: $5,890,000 (Rudy Gay)
  • Note: Limited to taxpayer mid-level exception.

Washington Wizards


Room Exception:

Available: $4,910,000

Charlotte Hornets

Detroit Pistons

Memphis Grizzlies

New York Knicks

San Antonio Spurs


Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.