Hoops Rumors Originals

The NBA’s 2020 buyout period will come to an unofficial end in less than a week, so before it does, we’re checking in on where things stand and which players may still shake loose. Let’s dive in…

When must a player be released by to retain his playoff eligibility?

Anyone who is waived by the end of the day (11:59pm ET) on March 1 will be postseason-eligible if he subsequently signs with a new team. A player who is waived after March 1 won’t be eligible to play in the postseason, unless he was released from a 10-day – rather than a standard – contract.

Does a player also need to sign by March 1 to be playoff-eligible for his new team?

Nope. A player could sign with a new team on the very last day of the regular season and still be eligible to participate in the postseason, as long as he was waived by his previous team on or before March 1.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Buyouts]

Which players are already off the board?

As our 2020 buyout market recap shows, a handful of intriguing veterans who were bought out or released earlier in February have already found new NBA homes.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist signed with the Mavericks; Marvin Williams joined the Bucks; DeMarre Carroll landed with the Rockets; Reggie Jackson is a Clipper; and Markieff Morris headed to the Lakers. Jeff Green, who was released earlier in the season, is currently on a 10-day contract in Houston.

So who’s still out there?

The list of remaining free agents isn’t as interesting as the group of players who have already signed, but there are some notable names on the market. Isaiah Thomas, Trey Burke, Dion Waiters, or Ryan Anderson might appeal to a team in need of some offensive punch. Tyler Johnson and Iman Shumpert are available for clubs seeking an extra wing.

There are also some wild cards on the free agent list. Nene is out there, but he hasn’t played in a game this season and it’s not clear if he’s healthy enough to contribute. J.R. Smith is available, but hasn’t played an NBA game since November 2018.

In addition to Smith, there are a number of other veterans on the market who haven’t played in the NBA this season but still could be looking to make comebacks. Jamal Crawford, Jonathon Simmons, and Joakim Noah are among the players who fit that bill.

Are there any other appealing targets that could become available in the next week?

Here’s a brief list of players we singled out in our recap as possible buyout candidates:

• Kyle O’Quinn, C (76ers)
• Denzel Valentine, G/F (Bulls)
• Matthew Dellavedova, G (Cavaliers)
• Tristan Thompson, C (Cavaliers)
• Bismack Biyombo, C (Hornets)
• Anthony Tolliver, F (Kings)
• John Henson, C (Pistons)
• Brandon Knight, G (Pistons)
• Marco Belinelli, G (Spurs)
• Allen Crabbe, G/F (Timberwolves)
• Evan Turner, G/F (Timberwolves)

Most of these guys probably won’t reach the open market, but they’re all on expiring – or pseudo-expiring – contracts and may not have a long-term future with their current teams. As such, they’re worth monitoring. There are players not mentioned here who may also emerge as buyout candidates in the coming days. If the Knicks change their stance on buying out veterans, for instance, at least a couple of their players could be added to this list.

The one player in this group, in my opinion, who could seriously move the needle for a playoff team is Thompson. A team like the Clippers or Celtics could really benefit from having a big, reliable center like him in the rotation. However, there has been no indication that the Cavaliers will pursue a buyout for Thompson or that he’s pushing for one.

Remaining on Cleveland’s roster for the rest of the season would allow Thompson to retain his Bird rights this summer, perhaps opening the door for a sign-and-trade opportunity that would allow him to maximize his free agency opportunities — and earnings.

Our 2020 buyout market recap will continue to be updated through March 1, so be sure to keep an eye on it over the next week.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

There is technically no set salary for a 10-day contract in the NBA. If a player and a team agree to a 10-day deal, they’re free to negotiate a salary using any cap room or exceptions that the team has available.

In practice though, a 10-day contract is virtually always worth the minimum salary. After all, a player who lacks the leverage to get more than a 10-day commitment from a club isn’t really in a position to negotiate a salary higher than the minimum.

Based on the minimum salaries for 2019/20 then, we can determine how much a player on a 10-day contract will earn this season. A 10-day minimum salary is worth 10/177ths of the full-season minimum salary, since there are 177 days in an NBA regular season.

Minimum-salary rates are based on a player’s NBA experience. If a player spent any time on a club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience had not made his NBA debut before 2019/20. A player with 10+ years of experience who signs a 10-day deal, such as Jeff Green (Rockets), will earn nearly three times as much money during that 10-day stint as a rookie like Donta Hall (Pistons).

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors’ 10-Day Contract Tracker]

It’s also worth noting that because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger players, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to minimum-salary contracts (as long as they’re not multiyear deals). As such, a 10-day contract for a veteran will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $91,557, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.

Here’s the full 10-day salary breakdown for 2019/20:

There’s one exception to the rates listed above — because a 10-day contract must cover at least three games, deals signed just before the All-Star break often run for more than 10 days. For example, when Malik Newman and J.P. Macura signed with the Cavaliers on February 9, they technically received “13-day” contracts, since the Cavs’ third game wasn’t until February 21.

In cases like that, Newman and Macura would simply receive 13/177ths of the full-season minimum salary instead of 10/177ths. For a rookie like Newman, that meant a bump from $50,752 to $65,978. For Macura, who had one year of NBA experience under his belt, it resulted in an increase from $81,678 to $106,181.

Every week, the Hoops Rumors writing team creates original content to complement our news feed. Here are our original segments and features from the past seven days:

• Luke Adams broke down the “starter criteria” language that determines exact rookie salaries for this week’s Hoops Rumors Glossary item.
• Adams also discussed the projected bi-annual and mid-level exception rates for the 2020/21 season.
• Malik Beasley and Jordan McRae number among the Northwest Division free agents-to-be in 2020 who have seen their stock rise this season, Dana Gauruder details in the latest installment of our Free Agent Stock Watch series.
• In our lone poll this week, we asked if you thought the NBA should stick with its new All-Star Game format or return to the old methodology.
• In our Community Shootaround conversations this week, we asked:
  • Can the Grizzlies hold off the Trail Blazers, Spurs and Pelicans to secure a 2020 playoff berth? Or will one of these other teams make a playoff push of their own? (link)
  • Who do you think will walk away with Coach of the Year hardware in 2020? (link)
  • Can the Rockets succeed in the playoffs without a traditional center? (link)
  • Can college coaches really win in the NBA? (link)
  • Which of 2019’s free agent signings do you think teams will regret, even if they might not be considered full-fledged mistakes quite yet? (link)

Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the values of various exceptions like the mid-level and bi-annual were established years in advance, but the league’s current CBA tweaked how those exceptions are calculated.

Rather than being determined ahead of time, the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions – along with several other cap-related figures and exceptions – are dependent on the movement of the salary cap from year to year. If the cap increases by 5% from one league year to the next, the exceptions increase by the same rate.

As such, we don’t know yet exactly what those exceptions will be worth in 2020/21, but we can make an educated estimate. The NBA’s most recent cap projections called for a $115MM cap for next season. That would be approximately a 5.4% increase on this year’s $109.14MM cap. If that projection holds, the values of the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions would increase by about 5.4% too.

[RELATED: Maximum Salary Projections For 2020/21]

Based on a $115MM cap, here’s what the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions would look like in 2020/21:

Mid-Level Exception

The standard mid-level exception is available to over-the-cap teams that haven’t dipped below the cap to use room and don’t go over the tax apron. It can run for up to four years, with 5% annual raises. The majority of NBA teams are expected to have this exception available next season, since most will be over the cap but only a few will be in the tax.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Mid-Level Exception]

The taxpayer mid-level exception is for in-the-tax teams, or teams that want the flexibility to surpass the tax apron later. It can run for up to three years, with 5% annual raises.

The room exception is for teams that go under the cap and use their space. Once they’ve used all their cap room, they can use this version of the mid-level exception, which runs for up to two years with 5% annual raises.

Bi-Annual Exception

The bi-annual exception is only available to teams that are over the cap and under the tax apron. It can also only be used once every two years, which will disqualify the Mavericks, Pistons, Grizzlies, and Raptors from using it in 2020/21 — they all used their BAE in 2019/20.