Hoops Rumors Originals

Community Shootaround: Ben Simmons’ Contract

Ben Simmons has agreed to a max extension with the Sixers which will reportedly pay the point guard $170MM over five seasons, beginning with the 2020/21 campaign.

There’s no doubt that Simmons is one of game’s best passers. His creativity and court vision, along with his size, make him one of the most unique players in the league. He’s also one of the league’s best rebounding guards and puts steady pressure on defenses with his ability to get to the rim. His size, quickness and length also make him an effective and versatile defender.

For all of his gifts, Simmons is also one of the most limited offensive players you’ll ever see. It’s almost unfathomable the way the game is currently played that he’s never made a 3-pointer in his career. He has no mid-range game, either. Virtually all of his shot attempts come within 10 feet of the basket.

When he does shoot beyond 10 feet, he’s doing the opponent a favor. Last year, he made 25.7% of his shot attempts from 1o-15 feet and 10.7% from 16 feet and out, according to Basketball Reference. He’s also a poor free throw shooter — 60% last season.

Despite those obvious weaknesses, he still averaged 17.8 PPG in his second year. And he’s got plenty of time to expand his offensive game. Simmons turns 23 this week and will undoubtedly get better with age.

However, Simmons’ deficiencies are magnified in the postseason and that could hinder the Sixers’ championship aspirations in future years. He averaged just 13.9 PPG and 6.0 APG during Philadelphia’s playoff run last season, which won’t cut it for a max player.

Still, superior young talent is tough to find and the Sixers probably couldn’t risk offering Simmons less without alienating him.

That leads us to our question of the day: Did the Sixers make the right move by giving Ben Simmons a max extension?

Please take to the comments to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Five Key Stories: 7/6/19 – 7/13/19

If you missed any of this past week’s biggest headlines from around the NBA, we’ve got you covered with our Week in Review. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last seven days:

After Kawhi Leonard committed to the Clippers, they acquired Paul George from the Thunder for  Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderDanilo Gallinari and future first-round picks. The Thunder received five first-round picks plus the right to swap two others as the Clippers fulfilled Leonard’s desire to team up with Most Valuable Player finalist George. The Clippers became instant contenders for next season’s title despite giving up their promising young point guard and another starter in the deal.

In a blockbuster swap involving two of the NBA’s biggest names, the Thunder traded Russell Westbrook to the Rockets for Chris Paul along with two future first-rounders and two pick swaps. Once George’s request to be traded to the Clippers was fulfilled, there was no reason for the Thunder to retain Westbrook during a full rebuild. The Rockets are hoping that Westbrook is the final piece to a championship puzzle. It’s likely that Paul will never play for the Thunder. He’ll either be traded again or work out a buyout agreement and become a free agent.

The Knicks reached a one-year agreement with free agent forward Marcus Morris after Morris backed out on a verbal agreement with the Spurs. The former Celtic decided to test the free agent market again next summer instead of signing a two-year deal with the Spurs. San Antonio shifted gears and signed a younger forward, Trey Lyles. New York had the flexibility to add Morris after renegotiating its deal with Reggie Bullock due to health concerns.

The NBA added in-game challenges by coaches and also made changes to the replay rules for next season. The rule will be implemented on a one-year, trial basis. Coaches will get one challenge per game, whether or not it’s successful. Called fouls, goaltending, basket interference, and out-of-bounds plays are the only calls that can be challenged. Uncalled fouls can’t be challenged. Coaches must have a timeout available to use a challenge, and must use that timeout immediately after the call they want to challenge.

Point guard Tyus Jones signed an offer sheet and the Timberwolves declined to match it. Jones, 23, averaged 6.9 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 1.2 SPG last year in 68 games (22.9 MPG) for Minnesota. He’ll join a Grizzlies point guard rotation that will feature No. 2 overall pick Ja Morant, along with newly-acquired youngster De’Anthony Melton. Jones’ three-year deal reportedly has a first-year base value of $8.4MM with $850K in likely bonuses. It has a descending structure but can be worth close to $27MM in total.

Here are 10 more noteworthy headlines from the past week:

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors Originals: 7/6/19 – 7/13/19

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

  • We took a closer look at the top remaining free agents on the market, including veterans like Joakim Noah and Jeremy Lin. In a related post, we revealed which teams had the most salary cap space available.
  • In our latest poll, we asked which Western Conference team deserved to be the favorite entering next season.
  • Luke Adams broke down how five teams used the salary-cap rules to their advantage during free agency.
  • In our latest Community Shootaround we asked our readers to choose the Eastern Conference team most likely to reach the Finals next season.

Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference Favorite

Unlike the decade when the LeBron James-led Heat or Cavaliers were the automatic favorite in the Eastern Conference, there are several legitimate contenders that could reach the Finals next season.

Milwaukee, with MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, will enter the season with the best odds of ending its long Finals drought. The Bucks, who had the league’s best record last season, haven’t played for the title since 1974.

The Bucks were able to re-sign some key free agents — Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and George Hill — but couldn’t afford to retain restricted free agent Malcolm Brogdon. They also didn’t add any top talent. Veteran shooting guard Wesley Matthews is the most notable newcomer.

The Celtics lost free agents Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Marcus Morris. Signing Kemba Walker was a major coup and team chemistry should be better, allowing potential star Jayson Tatum to blossom. But frontcourt deficiencies could hinder their chances of going deep in the playoffs.

The Sixers lost Jimmy Butler, though the sign-and-trade brought back Josh Richardson from the Heat. They did retain Tobias Harris, albeit at a high cost, and surprisingly signed Horford. Their starting five will have a different dynamic — more size, less offensive firepower — but it should be enough for a strong playoff run if Joel Embiid can stay healthy.

It will be nearly impossible for the Raptors to repeat, though Pascal Siakam has emerged as one of the league’s top young players.
The Nets, as they wait for Kevin Durant, are probably a year away from making a run despite the addition of Irving. The Pacers acquired some interesting pieces — Brogdon, T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb — but they need Victor Oladipo to come back strong from a serious leg injury to make noise.

The Magic could make the playoffs again by re-signing Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross but may not be good enough to take the next step. The Pistons added Derrick Rose to a mix that includes frontcourt stars Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond but after getting swept by the Bucks last spring, it’s hard to see them winning more than one playoff series.

That leads us to our question of the day: With free agency winding down and most of the major trades in the rearview mirror, which Eastern Conference team is most likely to reach the NBA Finals next season?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Five Creative NBA Offseason Cap Maneuvers

The 2019 NBA offseason has been perhaps the craziest in league history. Since the 2018/19 All-NBA teams were announced in May, six of the 15 stars from that group (Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, and Kemba Walker) have changed teams.

Current and former All-Stars like Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler, D’Angelo Russell, and Al Horford also have new homes. So do impact players such as Mike Conley, Danilo Gallinari, and Malcolm Brogdon.

[RELATED: 2019 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

As NBA teams revamp their rosters, many of them have gotten particularly creative in how they’ve acquired players within the rules of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Cap space has been maximized. Trade exceptions have been created, used, and re-used. And sign-and-trades have made a comeback in a major way, with 10 players having been dealt via sign-and-trade this offseason (a total of four players were signed-and-traded during the previous four offseasons).

[RELATED: 2019 NBA Offseason Trades]

We’re still stepping back and taking stock of all of this summer’s salary-cap machinations, but there are a few maneuvers in particular that have stood out to me, which I think are worth highlighting.

These aren’t necessarily the cleverest cap maneuvers of the offseason, and these five teams certainly aren’t the only ones that have employed creative tactics to acquire players. However, the moves listed below are five of my favorites of the offseason so far.

Let’s dive in…

1. The Nets create space to sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and DeAndre Jordan without using the room exception.

When the free agent period began, the Nets didn’t have quite enough cap room to accommodate maximum salaries for Durant ($38.2MM) and Irving ($32.74MM). Another move appeared to be required to carve out that space.

However, not only did the Nets avoid making that extra move, but they also found enough cap room to sign Jordan to a four-year, $40MM deal.

Cap expert Albert Nahmad first broke down the Nets’ sequence of events last week, explaining that by retaining their rights to D’Angelo Russell, Shabazz Napier, and Treveon Graham, the Nets were able to sign Irving to a near-max contract and give Jordan a starting salary close to $10MM before going over the cap to acquire Durant in a sign-and-trade.

Irving signed a contract that featured a starting salary just $1MM below his max, though he can make up the difference in unlikely incentives. Once the Nets signed Jordan and second-rounder Nicolas Claxton, the team used nearly every dollar of its leftover room to sign Russell to his new four-year contract.

Because Russell’s deal was signed using cap space, base year compensation rules for salary matching didn’t apply, meaning the Nets had the ability to use D-Lo’s full $27,285,000 first-year salary for matching purposes. However, Brooklyn needed to send out $30,479,200 in order to satisfy the matching rules and take in Durant’s new $38,199,000 salary.

In order to bridge that gap, the Nets included Napier and Graham in the deal. Both players had non-guaranteed contracts, which don’t count toward a team’s outgoing salary total for matching purposes, so Brooklyn gave each player a partial guarantee worth $1,597,100. Combined with Russell’s cap hit, those partial guarantees pushed the Nets’ outgoing salary total right to the required $30,479,200, essentially allowing them to “sign” Durant to a full max deal without having nearly enough space for it.

Throw in the fact that the Nets managed to get the Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick (top-20 protected) in the Durant sign-and-trade, and it turned out to be a very nice piece of business for GM Sean Marks and Brooklyn’s front office.

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Checking In On NBA’s Remaining Free Agents

We’re not even two full weeks into the NBA’s 2019 free agent period, but the list of noteworthy unsigned players has dwindled in a major way since the evening of June 30.

Two names on our list of the year’s 50 best free agents don’t have a formal agreement in place with teams, and that’s only because deals they initially agreed upon are now in jeopardy.

[RELATED: 2019 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

Marcus Morris, who initially appeared headed to San Antonio on a two-year contract, is now re-evaluating his options and is said to be mulling an offer from the Knicks. New York was able to gain the flexibility to make that offer to Morris because the team’s two-year deal with Reggie Bullock has to be re-worked due to an issue that arose during Bullock’s physical.

Besides Morris and Bullock, the rest of our top 50 free agents are off the board. So are most of the names we mentioned as “honorable mentions” on that list — swingman Justin Holiday and stretch four Trey Lyles are the only players in that group who have yet to secure deals.

Still, there are a handful of intriguing names out there for teams still scouring the open market for potential bargains. Here’s a quick look at some of those free agents:

Point guards:

In addition to veteran journeymen like Jose Calderon, Devin Harris, Raymond Felton, and Jeremy Lin, the list of remaining point guards includes former lottery picks such as Trey Burke and Cameron Payne, and young players like Frank Mason, Isaiah Briscoe, and Shaquille Harrison. Jerian Grant and Shelvin Mack are among the other free agents who saw regular minutes as backups last season.

The most appealing target on the point guard market may be one who is not technically a free agent yet — Shaun Livingston is expected to clear waivers on Friday.

Wings:

Bullock and Holiday are probably the most notable veterans in this group, but Kyle Korver isn’t far behind. At age 38, he doesn’t contribute much more than three-point shooting, but his outside stroke remains deadly.

Jamal Crawford, Ian Clark, David Nwaba, Iman Shumpert, Jonathon Simmons, Vince Carter, Lance Stephenson, and Thabo Sefolosha are among the other most wings available who could play rotation roles in 2019/20.

Stretch fours:

Lyles isn’t the only power forward with an outside shot who is still on the board. Ryan Anderson fits that bill, as do Jonas Jerebko and Dante Cunningham. Dragan Bender never developed into that sort of player, but he’s still just 22 years old and could be worth a flier.

Carmelo Anthony probably can’t realistically be considered a stretch four, but we’ll include him here — we haven’t heard much about potential landing spots for him this offseason though, outside of some speculation that he’ll become the Lakers’ 15th man.

Big men:

Teams in need of a veteran center still have a few options. Tyson Chandler is out there, as are Joakim Noah, Nene, Kosta Koufos, Amir Johnson, Zaza Pachulia, and Greg Monroe.

Pau Gasol is still recovering from a procedure on his foot, but he wants to keep playing and could be a worthwhile addition if he gets healthy.

Here are our full lists of remaining free agents by position/type and by team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Poll: Early Western Conference Favorites

No team besides the Golden State Warriors has represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals since 2014, but when the 2019/20 season begins, the Warriors almost certainly won’t be most fans’ pick to come out of the West again.

In the wake of their acquisitions of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers emerged as the betting favorites to win the conference – and the NBA championship – and it’s not hard to see why. George was one of the league’s best players in the regular season last season, while Leonard was the best postseason player. They join a 48-win team that’s bringing back many of its most important role players.

Still, the Clippers aren’t the overwhelming frontrunners. Leonard only played 60 games last season and battled a leg injury in the playoffs, while George underwent surgeries on both shoulders this spring and isn’t a lock to be ready for opening night. Plus, it’s not as if the Clips are bringing back all the key members of last year’s team — Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had be to be dealt for George.

The Lakers are viewed as perhaps the most significant threat to the Clippers in the West, as they added a perennial MVP contender themselves by trading for Anthony Davis. He’ll join LeBron James and a collection of role players both new (Danny Green, Quinn Cook, Avery Bradley) and returning (Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee). The Lakers also managed to hold Kyle Kuzma out of the Davis blockbuster and signed DeMarcus Cousins to a team-friendly deal in the hopes that he can recapture his All-Star form.

Outside of Los Angeles, there are a number of other clubs threatening to make a deep playoff run in the West. The Nuggets claimed the No. 2 seed last season and will bring all their primary contributors back, along with newly-acquired Jerami Grant, a versatile defender and someone who can make three-pointers on offense.

The Trail Blazers, who beat Denver to advance to the Western Finals this spring, underwent some changes this summer, with the likes of Al-Farouq Aminu, Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard, Evan Turner, Seth Curry, and Jake Layman being replaced by Hassan Whiteside, Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver, Nassir Little, and Mario Hezonja. Most importantly though, the club’s stars – Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum – will be back.

The Rockets appeared on the verge of blowing things up after a disappointing second-round exit this spring, but they now seem prepared to bring back a strong group led by James Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capela, P.J. Tucker, and Eric Gordon. During the past two seasons, no Western team came closer than Houston to knocking off the Warriors.

[UPDATE: The Rockets have agreed to acquire Russell Westbrook in a trade for Paul.]

Speaking of those Warriors, it’s definitely premature to write them off, as they still have a trio of All-Star caliber players in Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and newly-acquired D’Angelo Russell. If Klay Thompson returns to full strength from his torn ACL down the stretch, no one will want to face Golden State in the postseason.

Finally, the Jazz had one of the most impressive offseasons of any NBA team, revamping their starting five by acquiring Mike Conley in a trade and then signing Bojan Bogdanovic in free agency to join Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Joe Ingles. While Utah will miss contributors like Derrick Favors and Jae Crowder, the team did well to add role players like Ed Davis, Jeff Green, and Emmanuel Mudiay on the cheap.

What do you think? Which of these Western teams is your early pick to make it to the Finals next spring? Or is there another team in the conference that you like even more?

Vote below in our poll, then head to the comment section to share your two cents!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Few NBA Teams Still Have Meaningful Cap Space

After a flurry of activity during the first 10 days of an especially active 2019 free agent period, only a small handful of teams around the NBA still have any meaningful cap room available.

According to Jeff Siegel’s data at Early Bird Rights and Bobby Marks’ numbers at ESPN, the Knicks, Mavericks, Hawks, Pacers, and Clippers are the only clubs that project to have more than $2MM in leftover cap space.

Here’s a look at those five teams that still project to have a bit more room remaining:


New York Knicks

The Knicks had seemingly exhausted nearly all their cap room based on their reported agreements with free agents. However, one of those deals – Reggie Bullock‘s two-year, $21MM pact – is no longer in place after an issue arose with Bullock’s physical. It sounds like the two sides still plan to work something out, but for now, the team has regained enough flexibility to reportedly offer Marcus Morris $15MM for one year.

The Knicks’ precise cap room projection will depend on how they structured all the deals they finalized earlier this week, but Marks lists them at $15.5MM for now. That space would go away if Morris reneges on his deal with the Spurs and heads to New York. If not, the Knicks will have more cap flexibility than any other team, at least until they reach a new deal with Bullock.


Dallas Mavericks

According to Siegel’s numbers (and my own math), the Mavericks can get up as high as about $14.61MM in cap room. However, there’s no guarantee that Dallas even intends to function as an over-the-cap team this offseason.

So far, the Mavs have acquired Delon Wright via sign-and-trade, agreed to deals with free agents Seth Curry and Boban Marjanovic, and come to terms on new contracts for three of their own players (Kristaps Porzingis, Maxi Kleber, and Dorian Finney-Smith). Only the Wright acquisition is official.

If the Mavs wanted to, they could use cap room to acquire Wright and sign Curry, retain the cap holds for their own free agents, and hold off on the Marjanovic signing — that would create $14.61MM in cap room. Once that room is used, Dallas could go over the cap to lock up Porzingis, Kleber, and Finney-Smith, and then sign Boban using the room exception.

However, Dallas has another potential path — stay over the cap by taking Wright’s contract into a preexisting $21MM+ trade exception created in February’s Harrison Barnes deal, sign Curry using the mid-level exception, sign Marjanovic using the bi-annual exception, and re-sign their own free agents using their Bird or Early Bird rights.

In that scenario, the Mavs would forfeit any potential cap room, but would retain about $12MM of that Barnes trade exception, which could be used at anytime up until February 7, 2020.

Trade exceptions aren’t as versatile as cap room, since they can’t be used to sign free agents outright. However, the trade exception’s shelf life would be longer. If Dallas doesn’t find a way to use cap room now, the team would lose it once it makes its agreements with Porzingis, Kleber, and Finney-Smith official. Those players’ cap holds only account for just over $20MM for now, but their combined first-year salaries are expected to total closer to $40MM.

My best guess is that the Mavs used the Barnes trade exception to acquire Wright, and are now actively exploring the free agent and trade markets to assess whether it makes more sense to dip below the cap or to remain above it.


Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks‘ situation is pretty simple. Once the signing of Jabari Parker is official, Atlanta will have a team salary in the $103-104MM range, giving the club between $5-6MM in cap room to work with. That figure come in at about $5.8MM if Parker’s deal has a standard 5% raise from year one to year two, per Siegel.

The Hawks could create up to $7.2MM in space if they waive Jaylen Adams‘ non-guaranteed contract. It’s not clear yet what their plans are for that remaining space though.


Indiana Pacers

The Pacers‘ projection will hinge on how they intend to sign T.J. McConnell. McConnell’s two-year, $7MM deal, which isn’t yet official, could be completed using the room exception. That would leave the Pacers with about $4.82MM in cap room available right now, which would need to be used before the team finalizes its agreements with McConnell and Edmond Sumner.

If the club simply finalizes those McConnell and Sumner contracts and eats up its remaining cap room, it would still have the full $4.77MM room exception at its disposal.


Los Angeles Clippers

Like the Mavericks, the Clippers have agreed to a series of deals that they’ve yet to make official. That’s probably because they’re trying to determine if they can do anything with their remaining space (up to approximately $3.59MM).

That projection accounts for cap holds for Patrick Beverley, Ivica Zubac, and Rodney McGruder, all of whom will be re-signed. It also takes into account Kawhi Leonard‘s maximum-salary contract, and Danilo Gallinari‘s and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s cap hits, since trading them for Paul George figures to be one of the last moves the Clippers make.

Our Clippers’ projection was at about $4.49MM before the team officially signed second-round pick Terance Mann on Tuesday, adding his cap hit to the books — we’re assuming that contract will start at the rookie minimum, but L.A. had the room to give him more.

Once the Clippers determine what they’ll do with their remaining cap space and officially use it up, they’ll be able to move forward on all those deals, including signing JaMychal Green using the room exception.

Community Shootaround: Expansion

The NHL expanded into Las Vegas and the Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Finals during their inaugural 2017/18 season. The league will add a team in Seattle for the 2021/22 season.

Those two cities have also been prominently mentioned for NBA franchises. Despite the success of the Las Vegas Summer League and the feeling among many that Seattle didn’t deserve to lose the SuperSonics, there is no movement afoot regarding NBA expansion into those cities or anywhere else.

Commissioner Adam Silver said as much in Vegas on Thursday.

“There’s no doubt there are a number of cities in the United States that could host NBA basketball, but we analogize it to selling equity,” he said. “I think we would want to make sure at the time we expanded we felt it would help grow the entire league and not just support the NBA in that particular city.”

Since New Orleans got an NBA franchise in 2002, expansion has grinded to a halt. There are plenty of places that could support an NBA team, including cities that previously hosted a franchise, such as Kansas City, San Diego, St. Louis and Buffalo. Vancouver, former home of the Grizzlies, and Montreal would be worthy of consideration as well as other foreign cities such as Mexico City and London.

That leads us to our question of the day: When the NBA decides to expand again, which city is most worthy of a franchise?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Hawks, Cavs, Nuggets Quiet So Far In Free Agency

As our 2019 NBA Free Agent Tracker shows, 27 of the league’s 30 teams have reached an agreement on a standard NBA contract with at least one player. Not every one of those clubs has made a huge splash, but they’ve been involved in free agency to some extent.

That leaves just three teams that have stayed out of the proceedings so far: Atlanta, Cleveland, and Denver. Two of those teams (the Hawks and Cavaliers) have at least signed an undrafted rookie to a two-way contract, but none have reached an agreement to add an NBA free agent on a standard deal.

The Hawks‘ inactivity on the free agent market so far is unsurprising. When he looked ahead to the free agent period more than two months ago, general manager Travis Schlenk predicted that the team would be patient, waiting to see which players slipped through the cracks after the first wave of signings.

Atlanta has used some its cap room to absorb salary (Allen Crabbe), but still has up to about $14MM in space available, per Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights. Given Schlenk’s fondness for taking on unwanted contracts, we’ll see if he goes that route to use the rest of the Hawks’ space, or if the team has its eye on any remaining free agents. For what it’s worth, the deal that will send Miles Plumlee and Solomon Hill to Memphs for Chandler Parsons will open up an extra roster spot for Atlanta.

As for the Cavaliers, their cap situation makes it difficult for them to be too aggressive in free agency. Even if they waive J.R. Smith‘s non-guaranteed contract, they’re still right up against the tax line. A couple years ago, that wouldn’t have stopped them from adding another free agent or two, but ownership won’t want to risk repeater-tax penalties for the current roster.

If the Cavs waive and stretch a veteran, their mid-level exception could be in play, but for now I don’t expect them to be throwing any money at free agents.

Finally, the Nuggets essentially made their big free agency move when they decided to exercise Paul Millsap‘s $30MM+ team option for 2019/20. Denver still has enough wiggle room below the luxury-tax line to use its mid-level exception, though Trey Lyles remains a wild card. Lyles is a restricted free agent with a $4.5MM qualifying offer, and the Nuggets may ultimately have to choose between retaining him and using their full mid-level, assuming they want to stay below the tax.

Still, the Nuggets should have enough room to add a lower-cost free agent or two if they want to. A Denver Post report last weekend suggested the team would be on the lookout for a combo guard, a wing defender, and/or another big man.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.