Hoops Rumors Originals

NBA 2019 Free Agency: Day 2 Recap

The list of available NBA free agents continued to shrink on Monday, which was technically the first full day of 2019’s free agent period. Nearly two dozen more standard contracts were agreed upon, and a few more trade agreements were reached as well.

Listed below are July 1’s notable contract and trade agreements. For the most part, these deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these deals sometime after the July moratorium ends on Saturday.

Here are Monday’s noteworthy contract agreements:

  1. Maxi Kleber, Mavericks agree to four-year, $33MM contract.
  2. Seth Curry, Mavericks agree to four-year, $32MM contract.
  3. Tomas Satoransky, Bulls agree to three-year, $30MM contract (sign-and-trade).
  4. Wayne Ellington, Knicks agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
  5. Elfrid Payton, Knicks agree to two-year, $16MM contract.
  6. Kevon Looney, Warriors agree to three-year, $15MM contract.
  7. Ish Smith, Wizards agree to two-year, $12MM contract.
  8. Richaun Holmes, Kings agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  9. Frank Kaminsky, Suns agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  10. Enes Kanter, Celtics agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  11. Matt Thomas, Raptors agree to three-year, $4.2MM contract.
  12. Austin Rivers, Rockets agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
  13. J.J. Barea, Mavericks agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  14. Troy Daniels, Lakers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  15. Wesley Matthews, Bucks agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  16. Tim Frazier, Pistons agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  17. Jordan Bell, Timberwolves agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  18. Isaiah Thomas, Wizards agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  19. Kyle O’Quinn, Sixers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  20. Anthony Tolliver, Trail Blazers agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  21. Michael Carter-Williams, Magic agree to one-year contract (terms not yet known).
  22. Nerlens Noel, Thunder agree to contract (terms not yet known).
  23. Alec Burks, Thunder agree to contract (terms not yet known).

Here are the trades (or trade structures) agreed upon today:

  1. Trail Blazers to acquire Hassan Whiteside, Heat to acquire Meyers Leonard, and Clippers to acquire Maurice Harkless and a first-round pick in a four-team trade that will include Jimmy Butler‘s sign-and-trade deal.
  2. Bulls to acquire Tomas Satoransky (via sign-and-trade) from Wizards for multiple second-round picks.
  3. Timberwolves to acquire Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, and cash from Warriors.

Here are the rest of today’s noteworthy moves:

  1. Jazz waive Raul Neto

Previously:

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NBA 2019 Free Agency: Day 1 Recap

One of the wildest days in NBA history – or at least in the history of NBA offseasons – has come to a close.

As expected, a number of free agents decided not to waste any time reaching contract agreements when the free agent period officially got underway on Sunday night (or even a little earlier). The result was an action-packed day that saw more than half of our top 50 free agents of 2019 come off the board.

These deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these contract agreements sometime after the July moratorium ends on Friday.

Here are today’s free agent agreements:

  1. Klay Thompson, Warriors agree to five-year, maximum-salary contract ($189.9MM).
  2. Tobias Harris, Sixers agree to five-year, $180MM contract.
  3. Khris Middleton, Bucks agree to five-year, $178MM contract.
  4. Kevin Durant, Nets agree to four-year contract worth slightly less than the max (sign-and-trade).
  5. Kristaps Porzingis, Mavericks agree to five-year, maximum-salary contract ($158.3MM).
  6. Jimmy Butler, Heat agree to four-year, maximum-salary contract ($140.8MM; sign-and-trade).
  7. Kemba Walker, Celtics agree to four-year, maximum-salary contract ($140.8MM; sign-and-trade).
  8. Kyrie Irving, Nets agree to four-year contract worth slightly less than the max.
  9. D’Angelo Russell, Warriors agree to four-year, maximum-salary contract ($117.3MM; sign-and-trade)
  10. Nikola Vucevic, Magic agree to four-year, $100MM contract.
  11. Al Horford, Sixers agree to four-year, $97MM contract (plus incentives).
  12. Harrison Barnes, Kings agree to four-year, $85MM contract.
  13. Malcolm Brogdon, Pacers agree to four-year, $85MM contract (sign-and-trade).
  14. Bojan Bogdanovic, Jazz agree to four-year, $73MM contract.
  15. Julius Randle, Knicks agree to three-year, $63MM contract.
  16. Terry Rozier, Hornets agree to three-year, $58MM contract (sign-and-trade).
  17. Terrence Ross, Magic agree to four-year, $54MM contract.
  18. Brook Lopez, Bucks agree to four-year, $52MM contract.
  19. Ricky Rubio, Suns agree to three-year, $51MM contract.
  20. Jonas Valanciunas, Grizzlies agree to three-year, $45MM contract.
  21. Dewayne Dedmon, Kings agree to three-year, $41MM contract.
  22. Thaddeus Young, Bulls agree to three-year, $41MM contract.
  23. DeAndre Jordan, Nets agree to four-year, $40MM contract.
  24. Patrick Beverley, Clippers agree to three-year, $40MM contract.
  25. Cory Joseph, Kings agree to three-year, $37MM contract.
  26. Rudy Gay, Spurs agree to two-year, $32MM contract.
  27. Jeremy Lamb, Pacers agree to three-year, $31.5MM contract.
  28. Bobby Portis, Knicks agree to two-year, $31MM contract.
  29. Al-Farouq Aminu, Magic agree to three-year, $29MM contract.
  30. George Hill, Bucks agree to three-year, $29MM contract.
  31. J.J. Redick, Pelicans agree to two-year, $26.5MM contract.
  32. Thomas Bryant, Wizards agree to three-year, $25MM contract.
  33. Trevor Ariza, Kings agree to two-year, $25MM contract.
  34. Reggie Bullock, Knicks agree to two-year, $21MM contract.
  35. Taj Gibson, Knicks agree to two-year, $20MM contract.
  36. Derrick Rose, Pistons agree to two-year, $15MM contract.
  37. DeMarre Carroll, Spurs agree to two-year, $13MM contract.
  38. Rodney Hood, Trail Blazers agree to two-year, $11.7MM contract.
  39. Danuel House, Rockets agree to three-year, $11.1MM contract.
  40. Mike Scott, Sixers agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  41. Ed Davis, Jazz agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  42. Robin Lopez, Bucks agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  43. Garrett Temple, Nets agree to two-year, $9.8MM contract.
  44. Nicolo Melli, Pelicans agree to two-year, $4MM contract.
  45. Mario Hezonja, Trail Blazers agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
  46. Gerald Green, Rockets agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
  47. Mike Muscala, Thunder agree to contract (terms unknown).

Here are the trades (or trade structures) tentatively agreed upon today:

  1. Warriors, Nets to swap Kevin Durant, D’Angelo Russell in double sign-and-trade. Warriors would also receive Shabazz Napier, Treveon Graham.
  2. Celtics, Hornets to swap Kemba Walker, Terry Rozier in double sign-and-trade.
  3. Heat, Sixers to swap Jimmy Butler, Josh Richardson in sign-and-trade deal; third team still required.
  4. Pacers to acquire Malcolm Brogdon in sign-and-trade from Bucks for draft picks.
  5. Grizzlies to acquire Andre Iguodala, 2024 first-round pick from Warriors.
  6. Pelicans nearing deal to acquire Derrick Favors from Jazz for draft pick(s).

Here are the contract extensions agreed upon today:

  1. Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers agree to four-year, super-max extension (starts in 2021/22; projected value of $196MM).
  2. Jamal Murray, Nuggets agree to five-year, maximum-salary extension (starts in 2020/21; projected value of $169.7MM).
  3. Dwight Powell, Mavericks agree to three-year, $33MM extension (starts in 2020/21).

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Free Agent Tracker

With free agency officially underway and news of contract agreements breaking left and right, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams this July. To this end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

  • During the July moratorium (July 1-6), most of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect tentative agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data as needed.
  • Similarly, contract years and dollars will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in many cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
  • A restricted free agent who signs an offer sheet won’t be included in the tracker right away. We’ll wait to hear whether the player’s original team will match or pass on that offer sheet before we update our tracker in order to avoid confusion.
  • If you’re viewing the tracker on our mobile site, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2019 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. On our mobile site, it can be found in our menu under “Free Agent Lists.”

The tracker will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.

Top 50 NBA Free Agents Of 2019

The NBA’s new league year is set to begin on Sunday night, and this year’s free agent period should be a fun one. Several big-market teams have enough cap room for one or more stars, and as cap expert Keith Smith notes (via Twitter), the 2019 free agent class projects to be the biggest in NBA history in terms of total players hitting the market.

Listed below are our top 50 free agents for the 2019/20 NBA season. The players on this list are on track to become free agents tonight, though they won’t be able to officially finalize new deals until July 6.

Our rankings take into account both a player’s short-term and long-term value. If we were to consider solely a player’s worth for the 2019/20 season, a veteran like J.J. Redick would likely place higher, while younger free agents with upside, such as Terry Rozier, might be ranked a little lower.

Our top-50 list is a tag-team effort, with Clark Crum’s rankings incorporated along with my own.

In addition to the players listed below, there are plenty of other notable free agents available this summer. You can check out our breakdowns of free agents by position/type and by team for the full picture.

Here are our top 50 free agents of 2019:


1. Kawhi Leonard, F, Raptors
In rampaging through the Magic, Sixers, Bucks, and Warriors en route to an NBA championship, Leonard made a strong case for the title of Best Player in the World. He’ll get as much money and as many years as league rules allow from any team he wants to join. Leonard’s suitors include the Raptors, Lakers, Clippers, and Knicks.

2. Kevin Durant, F, Warriors
Leonard’s prime competitor for that Best Player in the World title, Durant earns the second spot on this list despite being in the very early stages of the recovery process from a torn Achilles. Even though he’ll miss the entire 2019/20 season, he still has a chance to get the biggest free agent contract of the summer if he returns to the Warriors on a five-year, $221.6MM deal. He’s also expected to consider the Clippers, Nets, and Knicks, with his decision set to come tonight.

3. Kyrie Irving, G, Celtics
It was a tumultuous year in Boston, and there are questions about Irving’s attitude and locker-room influence, but it’s hard to deny his on-court production (23.8 PPG, 6.9 APG, .487/.401/.873 shooting). Irving is considered very likely to sign a four-year, maximum-salary deal with the Nets.

4. Jimmy Butler, G/F, Sixers
After taking a back seat to his star teammates at times in Philadelphia, Butler showed in the Eastern Semifinals against the Raptors why he’s considered a max-salary player in his own right. Butler was the Sixers’ most consistent player in those seven games, going toe-to-toe with Kawhi Leonard and helping push Toronto to the limit in the toughest series of their title run. The Rockets and Heat are both pursuing sign-and-trade possibilities with Butler.

5. Klay Thompson, G, Warriors
Like his teammate Durant, Thompson won’t be healthy to start the 2019/20 season after suffering a major leg injury in the NBA Finals. And as is the case with Durant, a major injury doesn’t really diminish Thompson’s value. Despite his torn ACL, he’s expected to reach a five-year, maximum-salary deal with the Warriors.

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Five Key Offseason Questions: Toronto Raptors

The Raptors‘ decision to part ways with Coach of the Year Dwane Casey and then to trade beloved star DeMar DeRozan generated some angst among the fanbase last summer. But the moves ultimately paid off in dividends for the long-snakebitten organization this spring.

A Raptors postseason run that featured an improbable Game 7 buzzer beater against the Sixers and a comeback from a 2-0 deficit against the Bucks culminated with a Finals win over the Warriors for Toronto’s first NBA championship. Now, with the hangover from that title celebration still wearing off, the club will have to figure out whether it can keep All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard and make another run in 2019/20.

Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:

1. Will Kawhi Leonard re-sign?

With Kevin Durant expected to miss the 2019/20 season due to his torn Achilles, Leonard is unquestionably the top free agent on the market. And with just hours remaining until free agency officially begins, we still don’t really have a sense of what his plans are.

Did his championship run with the Raptors make him gain a new appreciation for Toronto or does he still want to play in his hometown of Los Angeles? Would teaming up with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the Lakers appeal to him after he led a team to a championship as the unquestioned No. 1 option? Does he want to join forces with another top free agent like Durant or Jimmy Butler? Does he intend to sign a shorter-term deal or opt for long-term security?

All of these questions remain up in the air, which makes it impossible to get a good read on how likely a return to Toronto is. That puts the Raptors in a tough situation, especially if Leonard doesn’t intend to make a quick decision once free agency opens, since their outlook going forward hinges on whether they’ll have the Finals MVP for five years, two years, or one year — or not at all.

Fortunately for the Raptors, they’re not in a position where they’d have to remain in a holding pattern with other top free agents as they wait for Leonard’s decision. They don’t project to have cap room, so Kawhi’s decision may actually not impact their 2019 offseason roster moves in a huge way. Most of their key contributors remain under contract.

It’s possible Danny Green‘s free agency decision will be tied to Kawhi’s to some extent, and the Raptors may not be limited to just the taxpayer mid-level exception if Leonard heads elswhere Otherwise, I wouldn’t expect their short-term plans to change too drastically based on Kawhi’s decision.

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2019 NBA Qualifying Offer Recap

Players eligible for restricted free agency don’t become restricted free agents by default. In order for a team to make a player a restricted free agent, it must extend a qualifying offer to him by June 29. The qualifying offer, which is essentially just a one-year contract offer, varies in amount depending on a player’s previous contract status.

A qualifying offer is designed to give a player’s current team the right of first refusal. Because the qualifying offer acts as the first formal contract offer a free agent receives, his team then has the option to match any offer sheet the player signs with another club. If a player doesn’t receive a qualifying offer, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any team — his previous club is given no formal opportunity to match.

You can read more about qualifying offers here.

Listed below are all the players believed to be eligible to receive qualifying offers this season, with details on which players did and didn’t get them. Our list is based on information from RealGM’s official NBA transactions log, along with various reports leading up to Saturday’s deadline.

It’s possible that one or two qualifying offers slipped through the cracks and will be reported later today before free agency officially gets underway — if so, we’ll update this list. For now though, this is what the qualifying offer landscape looks like. The players who received QOs will be restricted free agents, while the players who didn’t will be unrestricted.


Received qualifying offers:

Players on standard contracts:

Players on two-way contracts:

Note: Qualifying offers for two-way players are one-year, two-way contracts with a $50K guarantee unless otherwise indicated.


Did not receive qualifying offers:

Players on standard contracts:

Players on two-way contracts:

Note: Several players on two-way contracts reportedly signed two-year deals, making them ineligible for free agency this summer. They remain under contract. Additionally, some of the players listed below may have not spent enough time on an NBA active roster to be eligible for a qualifying offer.

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

Five Key Offseason Questions: Golden State Warriors

After a fortunate run of good health during the previous four seasons, the Warriors suffered back-to-back devastating injuries during their fifth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, as Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles in Game 5 vs. Toronto and Klay Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6.

The injuries raise questions about the Warriors’ ceiling for the 2019/20 season, but with a move to San Francisco on tap and a healthy Stephen Curry and Draymond Green still leading the way, one thing is clear: Golden State’s management has no intentions of taking a step back and retooling its roster.

Here are five key questions facing the franchise this summer:

1. Will Kevin Durant re-sign with the Warriors?

Klay Thompson was never viewed as a serious threat to sign with any team besides the Warriors, and a Saturday report indicated that he’s planning to agree to terms with Golden State on a five-year, maximum-salary offer shortly after free agency begins. That leaves Durant as the Warriors’ primary concern.

Durant will also be eligible for that five-year max. In fact, because of his additional years of NBA experience, a five-year deal for KD would be worth about $31MM more than it Thompson’s own five-year deal — Durant’s maximum salary is worth over $221MM, while Klay’s falls just shy of $190MM.

Although he has opted for shorter-term contracts since arriving in the Bay Area, the time is right for Durant to shift his focus to long-term security. Because the Warriors now have his full Bird rights, he’s eligible for the first time to sign a five-year contract with the club — and that should look more appealing than ever after the injury he suffered in the Finals.

With no assurances that he’ll ever get back to being the same player he was before tearing his Achilles, Durant can’t count on a future contract to make up the $57MM he’d forfeit by signing a four-year, $164MM deal with another team.

Still, we don’t know exactly what Durant’s thinking heading into free agency. Is that extra year (and that $57MM) a significant factor for him? Is he upset at all about the way the Warriors handled his calf injury in the postseason? Did suffering that Achilles injury in Game 5 after pushing to make it back to the court bring him closer to his Warriors teammates?

I think a reunion with the Warriors is still a possibility, though I’m not sure it’s the most likely scenario at this point. We’ll find it in a matter of days what Durant is thinking.

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NBA Minimum Salaries For 2019/20

While some NBA teams will head into free agency with more than enough cap room to add a maximum-salary player, other clubs will be totally capped out. However, each of the NBA’s 30 franchises will be on common ground in one respect: No team will be ineligible to sign a player to a minimum salary contract.

Teams with cap room available will have a little more flexibility to sign players to longer-term minimum salary contracts, but over-the-cap clubs will still be able to use the minimum salary exception to add as many players as roster limits allow, for contracts of up to two years. Unlike other exceptions, such as the mid-level or the bi-annual, the minimum salary exception can be used multiple times.

[RELATED: Values of 2019/20 mid-level, bi-annual exceptions]

Undrafted free agents and late second-round picks are often recipients of minimum salary contracts, but there are plenty of veterans who end up settling for the minimum too. Of course, because a player’s minimum salary is determined by how much NBA experience he has, many veterans will earn more than twice as much money as a rookie will in 2019/20 on a minimum salary contract.

Listed below are 2019/20’s minimum salary figures, sorted by years of NBA experience. If a player spent any time on an NBA club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience has not yet made his NBA debut.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Years of Experience Salary
0 $898,310
1 $1,445,697
2 $1,620,564
3 $1,678,854
4 $1,737,145
5 $1,882,867
6 $2,028,594
7 $2,174,318
8 $2,320,044
9 $2,331,593
10+ $2,564,753

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 one-year, minimum salary contracts. Those deals will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $1,620,564, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.

For instance, if Tyson Chandler – who has 18 years of NBA experience – signs a one-year, minimum salary contract with a new team, that team would only be charged $1,620,564 for Chandler’s contract. He’d earn $2,564,753, but the NBA would make up the difference. This only applies to one-year contracts, rather than multiyear deals.

If a player signs a minimum salary contract after the regular season begins, he’ll earn a pro-rated portion of the amount listed above.

NBA Maximum Salaries For 2019/20

Now that the NBA has set its salary cap for the 2019/20 league year at $109,140,000, we have a clear idea of what maximum-salary contracts will look like for the coming season.

While these numbers can probably soon be applied to contracts for free agents like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, and others, they’re also relevant for players who signed maximum-salary extensions that will go into effect in ’19/20, such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, John Wall, and James Harden.

Listed below are the maximum-salary contracts for players signing contracts that start in 2019/20. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous team 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. In the charts below, the “6 years or less” column details the maximum contracts for players like Booker and Towns; the “7-9 years” column applies to free agents like Leonard and Irving; and the “10+ years” column applies to vets like Durant or super-max players like Wall and Harden.

Here are the maximum salary figures for 2019/20:


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
2019/20 $27,285,000 $32,742,000 $38,199,000
2020/21 $29,467,800 $35,361,360 $41,254,920
2021/22 $31,650,600 $37,980,720 $44,310,840
2022/23 $33,833,400 $40,600,080 $47,366,760
2023/24 $36,016,200 $43,219,440 $50,422,680
Total $158,253,000 $189,903,600 $221,554,200

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

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2019/20 $27,285,000 $32,742,000 $38,199,000
2020/21 $28,649,250 $34,379,100 $40,108,950
2021/22 $30,013,500 $36,016,200 $42,018,900
2022/23 $31,377,750 $37,653,300 $43,928,850
Total $117,325,500 $140,790,600 $164,255,700

Values Of 2019/20 Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Exceptions

The salary cap for the 2019/20 NBA league year has officially been set, with the league announcing that the cap will be $109,140,000.

Under the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the values of the mid-level, room, and bi-annual exceptions are tied to the percentage that the salary cap increases in a given year. The cap figure for 2019/20 represents approximately a 7.1% increase over last season’s $101,869,000, so other exceptions will increase by the same amount, rounded to the nearest thousand.

Listed below are the maximum annual and total values of each of these exceptions, along with a brief explanation of how they work and which teams will have access to them.


Mid-Level Exception (Non-Taxpayer):

Year Salary
2019/20 $9,258,000
2020/21 $9,720,900
2021/22 $10,183,800
2022/23 $10,646,700
Total $39,809,400

The non-taxpayer mid-level exception is the primary tool available for over-the-cap teams to add free agents. As long as a team hasn’t dipped below the cap to use cap space and doesn’t go over the tax apron ($138,928,000) at all, it can use this MLE, which runs for up to four years with 5% annual raises.


Mid-Level Exception (Taxpayer):

Year Salary
2019/20 $5,718,000
2020/21 $6,003,900
2021/22 $6,289,800
Total $18,011,700

If an over-the-cap team currently projects to be a taxpayer, or expects to move into tax territory later in the 2019/20 season, it will have access to this smaller mid-level exception for taxpaying teams. If a team uses more than $5,718,000 of its mid-level exception, it is forbidden from surpassing the tax apron at any time during the league year. So even if a team isn’t above the apron when it uses its MLE, it might make sense to play it safe by avoiding using the full MLE and imposing a hard cap.

The taxpayer MLE can be used to sign a player for up to three years, with 5% annual raises.


Room Exception:

Year Salary
2019/20 $4,767,000
2020/21 $5,005,350
Total $9,772,350

Although this is also a mid-level exception of sorts, it’s colloquially known as the “room” exception, since it’s only available to teams that have used cap room. If a club goes under the cap, it loses its full mid-level exception, but gets this smaller room exception, which allows the team to go over the cap to sign a player, once the team has used up all its cap space. It can be used to sign players for up to two years, with a 5% raise for the second season.


Bi-Annual Exception:

Year Salary
2019/20 $3,623,000
2020/21 $3,804,150
Total $7,427,150

The bi-annual exception, as its name suggests, is only available to teams once every two years. Of the NBA’s 30 clubs, only three – the Bucks, Pelicans, Knicks, and Spurs – used it in 2018/19, so they won’t have access to it in 2019/20. The league’s other 26 teams could theoretically use it this season.

Still, even if a team didn’t use its BAE in ’18/19, that club doesn’t necessarily have access to it for the coming year. As is the case with the non-taxpayer MLE, this exception disappears once a team goes under the cap. It’s also not available to teams over the tax apron — using the BAE creates a hard cap at the apron.

The BAE can be used to sign players for up to two years, with a 5% raise after year one.

Note: Be sure to check out our Hoops Rumors Glossary installments for more information on the mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception.