Hoops Rumors Originals

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.

Waiver claims are something of a rarity in the NBA. In order to claim a player off waivers, a team generally must be able to fit the player’s entire salary into cap room, a traded player exception, or a disabled player exception. While there are a few teams with sizable trade exceptions available, disabled player exceptions can only be granted during the season, and the Hawks are the only team with any cap room left.

Given those limitations, the players most frequently claimed on waivers are those on minimum salary deals, since any club is eligible to place a claim on those players using the minimum salary exception. Even then though, there are exceptions — the minimum salary exception can only be used to sign players for up to two years, so the same rules apply to waiver claims. If a player signed a three-year, minimum salary contract, he can’t be claimed using the minimum salary exception.

Taking into account all the rules that reduce the odds of a waiver claim – not to mention the limited roster spots available for NBA teams – it makes sense that nearly all of the players who get released ultimately clear waivers. The 2018/19 league year featured 10 waiver claims, but the number of claims in a year typically falls short of that. During the 2017/18 league year, only four players were claimed off waivers. That number was six in 2016/17 and seven in 2015/16.

Despite how infrequent they are, we still want to track all the waiver claims that take place during the 2019/20 league year, so we’ll do so in the space below. This list will be updated throughout the offseason and regular season to include the latest claims.

Here’s the list:

• Timberwolves claim Tyrone Wallace from Clippers (July 8) (story)
  • Having missed out on their top free agent target – D’Angelo Russell – the Timberwolves gave themselves a low-cost depth option at the point guard spot by claiming Wallace from the Clippers. His $1,588,231 salary remained non-guaranteed following the claim though, so Minnesota eventually decided to cut Wallace before opening night and wasn’t on the hook for his cap charge.
• Pistons claim Christian Wood from Pelicans (July 17) (story)
  • Wood has been claimed off waivers twice in 2019, with the Pelicans nabbing him when the Bucks initially waived him in March. Wood impressed down the stretch in New Orleans, averaging 16.9 PPG and 7.9 RPG in eight games, but apparently wasn’t in the plans for new head of basketball operations David Griffin. Now he’ll start the regular season with the Pistons, who won’t have to fully guarantee his $1,645,357 salary until January.
• Lakers claim Kostas Antetokounmpo from Mavericks (July 21) (story)
  • Antetokounmpo was on a two-way contract with Dallas, and now occupies one of the Lakers‘ two-way slots. It’s unclear if the Lakers would’ve placed a claim if he had a different last name — his connection to older brother Giannis Antetokounmpo was probably a factor in the team’s decision, since L.A. will want to target the reigning MVP in free agency in 2021.
• Mavericks claim Aric Holman from Lakers (August 29) (story)
  • A month after the Lakers claimed a Mavericks player, Dallas returned the favor by claiming Holman off waivers. The Lakers had intended to bring Holman to training camp but had to cut him to make room for Dwight Howard. The Mavs took advantage of the opportunity to take an extended look at Holman themselves, but eventually released him.
• Rockets claim Ray Spalding from Hawks (October 10) (story)
  • A 2018 second-round pick, Spalding joined his fourth team in the span of 16 months when he was claimed off waivers by the Rockets less than two months before the season began. Because Spalding was on a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract, it was a simple process for Houston to bring him in and consider him for a regular season roster spot. He was waived before the regular season though.
• Cavaliers claim Tyler Cook from Nuggets (October 18) (story)
  • After the Nuggets waived Cook to open up a two-way contract slot for PJ Dozier, the Cavaliers took advantage of having their own open two-way slot to claim Cook. The undrafted rookie out of Iowa joined Dean Wade as Cleveland’s players on two-way deals.
• Cavaliers claim Alfonzo McKinnie from Warriors (October 21) (story)
  • The Cavaliers‘ second claim in less than a week was on one of the most popular waiver targets of the offseason — Cleveland likely wasn’t the only team that put in a claim on the forward, who became the victim of a roster crunch in Golden State. McKinnie opens the regular season as a member of the Cavs’ standard roster.
• Kings claim DaQuan Jeffries from Magic (October 21) (story)
  • One of five players waived by the Magic just before the regular season, Jeffries may have ended up playing for Orlando’s G League team if he hadn’t been claimed by the Kings. Because he was on an Exhibit 10 contract, Sacramento was able to convert Jeffries to a two-way contract after claiming him.
• Hawks claim Tyrone Wallace from Timberwolves (October 23) (story)
  • The first player claimed during the 2019/20 league year, Wallace also became the first player to be claimed a second time since July. His minimum salary contract and NBA experience has made him a popular target, and the Hawks had the regular season roster spot available to give him an audition to start the year.
• Pistons claim Jordan McRae from Nuggets (March 4) (story)
  • The Nuggets didn’t have much of a role for McRae after trading for him at the deadline, so they let him go on the evening on March 1 to allow him to seek a new opportunity. It looked like that opportunity would come in Phoenix, but the Pistons placed a waiver claim of their own and had a better waiver priority than the Suns.
• Knicks claim Jared Harper from Suns (June 25) (story)
  • This waiver claim was over three months in the making — the Suns initially decided to waive Harper in March, right when the NBA’s transaction moratorium went into effect. When the move finally become official in June, the Knicks were ready with a claim, cutting Kadeem Allen to open up a two-way contract slot.
• Knicks claim Theo Pinson from Nets (June 26) (story)
  • A day after nabbing Harper, new Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose made the second waiver claim of his tenure, waiving free-agent-to-be Allonzo Trier to make room for Pinson. The former Net has a minimum-salary team option for 2020/21. There’s no guarantee New York will pick it up, but the claim signals that the club likes him.

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:

• We updated our lists of the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches and longest-tenured heads of basketball operations. The same name – Gregg Popovich – tops both lists.
• Half of the NBA’s teams face hard caps during the 2019/20 league year. We broke down the full list of teams and explained how each club imposed that hard cap on itself.
• We checked in on some of the most notable free agent guards and free agent wings who remain unsigned, nearly six weeks into the 2019/20 league year. We also looked at which members of this year’s draft class have yet to sign their first professional contracts.
• No NBA player has a no-trade clause in his contract. However, a number of players have veto power on trades during the 2019/20 league year. Here’s the list.
• Chris Crouse profiled former Sixers guard Tony Wroten in the wake of news that he’s expected to continue his playing career in Europe.
• We examined the five most valuable traded player exceptions from around the NBA to see which ones are worth keeping an eye on in trade talks in the coming months.
• In this week’s polls, we asked:
  • Which team will win the Pacific Division? (link)
  • Will Carmelo Anthony be on an NBA roster by opening night? (link)
• In this week’s Community Shootaround discussions, we explore the following topics:
  • Which 12 players should make Team USA’s 12-man World Cup roster? (link)
  • Which team has the better group of role players, the Lakers or Clippers? (link)

An NBA team can create a traded player exception when it sends out a player’s salary in a trade without taking back the same total salary in return — or without taking back any salary in return. A traded player exception, which we explain in more detail in our glossary entry, can be used within the next year to acquire a player via trade or waiver claim.

Most traded player exceptions – even sizeable ones – go unused, but that’s not always the case. Earlier this offseason, for instance, the Grizzlies created a $25MM trade exception in their Mike Conley deal with Utah. Memphis later used the Conley TPE to take on Andre Iguodala‘s $17MM salary, then used the remainder to acquire Josh Jackson ($7MM). That exception has less than $800K left on it now, so the Grizzlies probably won’t use it again, but it’s proven extremely valuable this summer.

While most of the trade exceptions currently available around the NBA will simply expire once the year is up, it’s worth keeping an eye on the most valuable TPEs to see if they might come in handy for teams during the 2019/20 league year.

Here are the top five most valuable TPEs, most of which could be used to acquire a player earning more than the full mid-level exception:

1. Golden State Warriors: $17,185,185 (expires 7/7/20): Since they’re hard-capped for the rest of the 2019/20 league year, the Warriors are extremely unlikely to make use of this exception – created in the Andre Iguodala trade – before next summer. However, when the new league year begins next July, this exception could be an interesting tool for the over-the-cap (but no longer hard-capped) Warriors to make a deal during the 2020 offseason.
2. Dallas Mavericks: $11,825,694 (expires 2/7/20): Initially worth $21MM+, this Harrison Barnes trade exception was nearly cut in half when Dallas used it to acquire Delon Wright. It’s still valuable enough to potentially come in handy before the 2020 trade deadline though. The Mavericks are far enough below the luxury tax line to acquire a salary worth $11.8MM and still stay out of tax territory.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder: $10,389,997 (expires 7/10/20): Besides stockpiling draft picks in their trades of Paul George, Jerami Grant, and Russell Westbrook this summer, the Thunder also created a pair of robust trade exceptions. This one was generated in the George deal. Unfortunately, since Oklahoma City appears committed to sneaking below the tax line in 2019/20, the odds of the club using this exception are slim — it could potentially come in handy next July before it expires though.
4. Oklahoma City Thunder: $9,346,153 (expires 7/8/20): If the Thunder‘s odds of using one trade exception are slim, their odds of using both are microscopic. This TPE was generated in the Grant deal with Denver.
5. Miami Heat: $6,270,000 (expires 2/6/20): Like the Warriors, the Heat are hard-capped, so unless they can somehow shed salary within the next several months, this exception – created in February’s Wayne Ellington deal – will simply expire without being used.

The rest of the NBA’s available traded player exceptions can be found right here.

We’re nearly 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 week or two 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 on Thursday when we focused on a handful of the best free agent guards available. It continues today with a list of some of the most intriguing veteran wings on the open market.

Let’s dive in…

• Iman Shumpert: Shumpert is one of the few free agents left who can say he played regular minutes for an NBA title contender last season. He averaged 15.4 minutes per contest in Houston’s six games against Golden State in the Western Conference Semifinals. Using him as a sign-and-trade chip would be the Rockets‘ best chance to land Andre Iguodala via trade and would assure Shumpert of another eight-figure salary, so I suspect he has been willing to wait to see if that’s still a possibility. Otherwise, he’ll likely get a minimum-salary deal somewhere before the season begins.
• Carmelo Anthony: We’ve covered Anthony’s desire to return to the NBA extensively in recent weeks. Now, it’s a matter of seeing whether a team is willing to take a shot on him. Many of the clubs that we’d normally view as logical suitors are considered long shots – the Lakers reportedly don’t have much interest, while the Heat are hard-capped – so it’s certainly not a lock that the 10-time All-Star will be on a roster when training camps open next month.
• Thabo Sefolosha: Although Sefolosha isn’t a volume three-point shooter, he has knocked down 36.7% of his outside attempts over the last four years, and plays solid defense. At age 35, he may have slowed a step, but he could still be a useful piece for a team seeking a role player or insurance policy on the wing.
• Jodie Meeks: His playoff role was the definition of “limited” (he averaged 4.7 minutes per game in 14 postseason contests), but Meeks was still a contributor for the NBA-champion Raptors. He’s also a career 37.3% three-point shooter. The veteran swingman may need to accept a partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed contract, but he should be in camp with an NBA team. The Clippers and Hornets are said to have some interest.
• Jonathon Simmons: It feels like eons ago that Simmons was turning heads in the 2017 postseason for the Spurs after Kawhi Leonard went down with an ankle injury vs. Golden State. He has been okay since then, averaging 10.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, and 2.4 APG in 125 games (24.7 MPG) for the Magic and Sixers. Simmons could be a decent flier at the minimum.
• Corey Brewer: Brewer looked so good on a series of 10-day contracts with the Sixers and Kings last season that Sacramento offered him $2MM on a rest-of-season deal at the end of February to secure him for the season’s final six weeks. If he doesn’t find a new NBA home by opening night, Brewer could do what he did last year and try to catch on somewhere midway through the season. He’d be a solid plug-and-play option for a team hit with injuries.

Michael Beasley appears unlikely to return to the NBA anytime soon. He was hit with a five-game suspension for violating the league’s anti-drug policy and is reportedly leaning toward a return to China. Another former top-10 pick, Luol Deng, may be nearing the end of the road — the 34-year-old was hampered by Achilles issues last season and has played just 23 games in the last two years.

Luc Mbah a Moute is another player who has been slowed by health problems, but he was a key rotation player for the Rockets in 2017/18. If he can get healthy, he should receive NBA interest. Dante Cunningham is more of a stretch four than a wing, but he continues to post solid shooting numbers as he bounces around from team to team (.462 3PT% in 64 games for the Spurs in 2018/19, albeit on just 65 attempts).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

We’re nearly 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 week or two 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’ll be taking a closer look at some of the most noteworthy free agents still on the board, breaking them down by position. That series starts today with a list of some of the most intriguing veteran guards on the open market.

Let’s dive in…

• Shaun Livingston: When Livingston was waived by the Warriors a month ago, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said the veteran point guard was “determined” to continue playing. If that’s the case, it’s surprising that a player with his championship experience hasn’t found a new NBA home yet. A June report had indicated that Livingston would seriously consider retirement, so that scenario shouldn’t be ruled out. Golden State will likely offer him a role with the team if he chooses to retire.
• Jeremy Lin: Although he was a member of the NBA champion Raptors last season, Lin wasn’t part of the club’s postseason rotation, playing garbage-time minutes in eight playoff games. The 30-year-old expressed frustration with his free agency last month, wondering aloud if the NBA has “given up” on him. However, he also doesn’t appear ready to seriously pursue overseas options — talks with CSKA Moscow reportedly broke down in late July.
• J.R. Smith: Although he sat out most of the 2018/19 season, Smith was technically under contract with the Cavaliers up until last month. He’s a free agent now and met with the Bucks before they signed Kyle Korver. I expect a team in need of outside shooting help to roll the dice on Smith at some point in the coming months, but that’s not a lock.
• Jamal Crawford: The only update we’ve heard on Crawford so far this offseason is that the Suns renounced his free agent rights. However, he said back in the spring when the regular season was winding down that he had no plans to retire this year, so the lack of summer rumors doesn’t mean he has given up on finding a new NBA contract. In April, the 39-year-old said that finding a good fit would be his top priority this offseason. We’ll have to wait to see if that fit is still out there for him.
• Chasson Randle: Randle emerged as the Wizards’ backup point guard following John Wall‘s injury last season, and played pretty well in a part-time role, averaging 5.5 PPG and 2.0 APG with a .400 3PT% in 49 games (15.2 MPG). That performance hasn’t earned him a new NBA contract yet, but given how few point guard options are left on the market, I’d expect a suitor to come calling this fall, especially once clubs start to get hit by injuries.

Raymond Felton, Devin Harris, and Jose Calderon are among the other veteran point guards still available. All three have been productive backups in the past, but they’re now 35, 36, and 37 years old, respectively. Their days as regular rotation players are probably nearing an end, if they’re not over already.

Isaiah Canaan never seems to be any team’s first choice as a backup at the point, but he has suited up in regular season games for six different clubs over the last four seasons. It wouldn’t be surprising if he adds a seventh (and maybe an eighth) team to that list in 2019/20. Isaiah Briscoe, who briefly claimed the backup role in Orlando last season before suffering a torn meniscus, could be an interesting developmental project for a team if he’s healthy — he’s only 23 years old.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.