Hoops Rumors Originals

The most notable dates of the 2019 NBA offseason are behind us now that we’re through the draft and the free agent period. However, there are still a number of dates and deadlines to keep an eye on in the coming weeks and months before teams take the court again to kick off the 2019/20 regular season.

The list below doesn’t include every event or deadline that will take place prior to opening night on October 22, but these are several of the most important upcoming dates for teams and players.

Here’s the breakdown:

August 31:

• Last day that teams can waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2019/20 salaries. After August 31, teams can still use the stretch provision on players who have multiple years left on their contracts, but their ’19/20 cap hits will remain unchanged.

August 31 – September 15:

• The 2019 FIBA World Cup takes place in China. The first round will run through September 5, with the second round wrapping up on September 9. The quarterfinals will take place on September 10-11, followed by the semifinals on the 13th and the final on the 15th.

September 5:

• Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned second-round picks; those players become free agents on September 6 if not tendered. [RELATED: Four 2019 NBA draft picks remain unsigned]

September 28:

• Training camps begin for teams participating in preseason games outside North America. This applies to the Pacers and Kings (India), Rockets and Raptors (Japan), and Nets and Lakers (China).

October 1:

• Training camps begin for the rest of the NBA’s teams.

October 19:

• Last day for players on fully non-guaranteed contracts to be waived and not count at all against a team’s 2019/20 cap. They must clear waivers before the first day of the regular season.

October 21:

• Last day of the 2019 offseason.
• Roster limits decrease from 20 players to 15 (4:00pm CT)
• Last day for teams to sign a player to a rookie scale extension (5:00pm CT). [RELATED: Players eligible for rookie scale extensions]
• Last day for teams to sign an extension-eligible veteran player with multiple seasons left on his contract (ie. Bradley Beal) to an extension. An extension-eligible veteran player on an expiring deal (ie. Kyle Lowry) can still be extended after October 21.
• Last day for teams to complete sign-and-trade deals.
• Last day for teams to convert an Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way contract.

October 22:

• Regular season begins. [RELATED: 2019/20 schedules by team]

Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and NBA.com were used in the creation of this post.

A trade kicker is a contractual clause that pays an NBA player a bonus when he’s traded. They’re one of the tools teams have at their disposal to differentiate their free agent offers from the ones put on the table by competing clubs.

Sometimes the kicker is worth a fixed amount, but usually it’s based on a percentage of the remaining value of the contract. So, a player who has a 10% trade kicker is eligible for a bonus worth 10% of the amount of money he has yet to collect on his deal.

Regardless of whether a trade kicker is set at a fixed amount or a percentage, the bonus can’t exceed 15% of the remaining value of the contract. Most trade kickers are worth 15%, the highest percentage allowed.

A trade bonus must be paid by the team that trades the player, rather than the team acquiring him. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement also allows a player to waive his trade kicker as part of a deal, if he so chooses.

If you want a more detailed explanation of how trade kickers work, check out the Hoops Rumors Glossary entry on the subject.

With the help of contract information from Basketball Insiders and ESPN’s Bobby Marks, here’s a list of the NBA players who have active trade kickers for 2019/20, listed alphabetically, along with the details of those trade bonuses:

• Steven Adams, Thunder (7.5%)
• LaMarcus Aldridge, Spurs (15%)
• Kyle Anderson, Grizzlies (15%)
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lakers (15%)
• Andre Drummond, Pistons (8%): Traded
• Gordon Hayward, Celtics (15%)
• Kyrie Irving, Nets (15%)
• LeBron James, Lakers (15%)
• Enes Kanter, Celtics (15%)
• Kelly Olynyk, Heat (lesser of 5% or $2MM)

The following players have trade bonuses on their contracts, but those bonuses would be voided if they were to be traded during the 2019/20 league year, since they’re already earning this season’s maximum salary:

• Jimmy Butler, Heat (15%)
• Stephen Curry, Warriors (15%)
• Kevin Durant, Nets (15%)
• James Harden, Rockets (15%)
• Tobias Harris, Sixers (lesser of 5% or $5MM)
• Kawhi Leonard, Clippers (15%)
• Kristaps Porzingis, Mavericks (5%)
• Klay Thompson, Warriors (15%)
• Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves (5%)
• Kemba Walker, Celtics (15%)
• John Wall, Wizards (15%)

The following players have signed contract extensions that will include trade kickers, but those extensions won’t go into effect until the 2020/21 season:

• Draymond Green, Warriors (15%)
• Ben Simmons, Sixers (15%)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free agent signees, trade acquisitions, and 2019 draftees are the most common additions to NBA rosters this summer. However, a small number of players will come via the draft-and-stash route, as teams bring aboard players drafted in previous years.

While first-round draftees from the last three years are limited to the 2019 rookie scale, there are no draft-and-stash signings who fit that bill this year. Players who were previously selected in the second round of a draft are free to sign any type of contract via cap room or exceptions.

Listed below are the draft-and-stash prospects who have signed so far this offseason, with contract details noted. If and when more teams add draft-and-stash players, we’ll update this list, which can be found at anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in the “Features” page in our mobile menu.

• Denver Nuggets: Vlatko Cancar, F (2017 draft; No. 49) (story)
  • Cancar was just 20 years old when he was selected by the Nuggets in 2017. After spending two more seasons with Mega Leks (Serbia) and Burgos (Spain), he’s considered a little more NBA-ready. He received a guaranteed contract that makes him a virtual lock to earn a regular season roster spot.
  • Contract: Three years, $4.2MM (minimum salary). First two years guaranteed. Signed using mid-level exception.
• Oklahoma City Thunder: Devon Hall, SG (2018 draft; No. 53) (story)
  • Hall spent his first professional season in Australia and the G League after being selected in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Thunder. His agent said when he first headed overseas that they expected him to be in Oklahoma City for the 2019/20 season. That will indeed be the case, though it’ll be on a two-way deal rather than as part of the standard 15-man roster.
  • Contract: Two-way contract.
• Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Hervey, PF (2018 draft; No. 57) (story)
  • Hall didn’t last long on his two-way deal with the Thunder, having been waived in December to make room for fellow 2018 second-rounder Hervey. The former UT Arlington standout spent his rookie season and the first part of his second season with the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate.
  • Contract: Two-way contract.
• Utah Jazz: Nigel Williams-Goss, PG (2017 draft; No. 55) (story)
  • Despite playing his college ball in America (at Washington and Gonzaga), Williams-Goss was willing to head overseas after the Jazz drafted him in 2017. He won a Serbian Cup with KK Partizan during his rookie season, then spent his second year playing for EuroLeague club Olympiacos. Williams-Goss projects to be in Utah’s point guard mix, though he’ll have to battle Dante Exum and Emmanuel Mudiay for minutes behind Mike Conley.
  • Contract: Three years, $4.8MM. First-year salary ($1.5MM) guaranteed. Signed using cap room.

Multiple draft-and-stash players from previous drafts have had their NBA rights renounced this offseason. We’ll keep tabs on those players here too:

• Sixers renounced Anzejs Pasecniks (2017 draft; No. 25) (story)
• Rockets renounced Marko Todorovic (2013 draft; No. 45) (story)
• Cavaliers waived Sir’Dominic Pointer (2015 draft; No. 53) immediately after he signed his required tender (story)

We’re six weeks into the NBA’s 2019 free agent period, and the market has been just about picked clean. None of our top 50 free agents of 2019 remain on the board, and news of free agent signings within the last couple weeks has focused primarily on non-guaranteed training camp invitees.

Still, our list of remaining 2019 free agents features some interesting names. Roster spots around the NBA are becoming scarce, but a number of unsigned players could help out contending teams. Some of these players could sign in the coming days or weeks, while others may have to wait for injuries to open up opportunities.

In a series of posts, we’re taking a closer look at some of the most noteworthy free agents still on the board, breaking them down by position. That series started last Thursday when we focused on a handful of the best free agent guards available, and continued on Friday as we turned to the top free agent wings. Now we’re closing things out by examining some of the most intriguing veteran big men on the open market.

Let’s dive in…

• Nene: After he made the surprising decision to turn down his $3.8MM player option for 2019/20, Nene hasn’t had any luck finding a new contract on the open market. He also hasn’t indicated that he plans to retire, despite some rumors that he might end up going in that direction. The big man will turn 37 in September, so we’ll see if another NBA deal is in his future.
• Amir Johnson: Johnson logged minutes in 51 regular season games for the Sixers last season, but had fallen out of the rotation by the playoffs. He’s a smart, heady player and he’s still just 32 years old, so I doubt we’ve seen the last of him in the NBA. Still, the fact that he doesn’t thrive in any one particular area – such as protecting the rim or shooting three-pointers – may hurt his market.
• Joakim Noah: Noah was surprisingly effective in 42 games for the Grizzlies last season, averaging 7.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 2.1 APG in just 16.5 minutes per contest. That performance hasn’t earned him an NBA job yet, but he’d have options overseas if he’s interested — a club in New Zealand was said last month to covet him.
• Kenneth Faried: Faried experienced a renaissance in Houston last season, averaging 12.9 PPG and 8.2 RPG in 25 games for the Rockets. He’s also been working on adding an outside shot to his game. At age 29, Faried can still be a solid contributor for an NBA team, and I’d be surprised if he’s not on a roster by opening night.
• Ryan Anderson: This would have been the fourth and final year of Anderson’s four-year, $80MM contract, which he signed in 2016. Instead, he’s back on the open market. His ability to stretch the floor from well beyond the three-point line is valuable, but it doesn’t always make up for his poor defense. On top of that, he wasn’t even making shots last season, knocking down just 9-of-40 threes (22.5%).
• Marcin Gortat: Gortat started 43 games at center in 2018/19 for the Clippers before being waived at the trade deadline. While he has talked in the past about wanting to join the Magic to finish his NBA career, Orlando’s frontcourt is pretty crowded at this point, and the veteran big man had also suggested earlier in his career that the 2018/19 season might be his last. There’s no guarantee he’ll return to an NBA team.
• Zaza Pachulia: At age 35, Pachulia’s NBA days may be numbered, but he appeared in 68 games for the Pistons as a backup center last season.

Jonas Jerebko would be an intriguing target for a team seeking frontcourt shooting, but last we heard, he was close to signing with a Russian team. (Update: Jerebko’s deal with Khimki is now official.)

Justin Patton is 22 years old and is just two years removed from being drafted 16th overall. If he can get – and stay – healthy, he might be worth a flier. Health hasn’t been an issue for Marquese Chriss, a 22-year-old who was a lottery pick in 2016, but he has yet to develop into a positive contributor. Perhaps a new club could get more out of him.

Another former first-round pick, Jarell Martin, doesn’t have Patton’s or Chriss’ upside, but was a regular rotation player as recently as 2017/18 and is still just 25.

Salah Mejri, Jon Leuer, Eric Moreland, Jason Smith, Tyler Zeller, and Guerschon Yabusele are among the other bigs who remain unsigned.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.