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2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Cleveland Cavaliers

April 16th, 2019 at 3:18pm CST by Luke Adams

After four straight NBA Finals appearances, the 2018/19 season was one of transition for the Cavaliers, who lost their best player (LeBron James), dismissed their head coach (Tyronn Lue), and shifted their focus to the future. While Cleveland may have moved on mentally from those LeBron-led squads, the team’s cap sheet is still catching up — many of the Cavs’ priciest veteran contracts run for one more year.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Cavaliers financially, as we launch our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • None

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

  • J.R. Smith ($11,810,000) 1
  • Total: $11,810,000

Restricted Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000

Offseason Cap Outlook

  • Realistically, there’s no way the Cavaliers will be able to create cap room for 2019/20. Dumping salary to get under the cap would almost certainly mean attaching assets that they’ve accumulated during their rebuild, and since they were willing to take on salary to acquire those assets in the first place, it would be counter-intuitive to switch gears now.
  • In fact, with $123MM+ in guaranteed money already on their books for 2019/20 and the possibility of adding even more salary if they can find a favorable J.R. Smith trade, the Cavs will likely be more concerned with staying below the $132MM luxury tax line than with finding a way to create cap space.

Cap Exceptions Available

  • Trade exception: $2,760,095 (expires 12/9/19)
  • Trade exception: $1,544,951 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 2/7/20)
  • Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 4
  • Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 4

Footnotes

  1. Smith’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
  2. The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap, but their cap holds do during the offseason.
  3. Because Chriss’ fourth-year rookie scale option was declined, the Cavaliers are ineligible to offer him a starting salary greater than his cap hold.
  4. These are projected values. Additionally, the Cavaliers will not be able to use these exceptions if their team salary exceeds the tax apron. In that scenario, they’d instead receive the taxpayer mid-level exception, worth a projected $5,711,000.

Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

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

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Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Award Picks: Coach Of The Year

April 16th, 2019 at 2:09pm CST by Hoops Rumors

While the NBA won’t announce this year’s award winners until June, we’re making our picks for 2019’s major awards over the next two weeks.

The Hoops Rumors writing team has weighed in with our choices below, but we also want to know which players, coaches, and executives you think are most deserving of the hardware this season, so jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts.

We’re keeping things going today with the award for Coach of the Year. Here are our selections:

Austin Kent: Mike Budenholzer (Bucks)
While it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a top-five player evolve into a superstar, the Bucks benefited immensely from the excellent decision to hire Budenholzer, who took a good team propped up by its best player and morphed it into a well-oiled machine.

With Budenholzer at the helm, the Bucks increased their pace from 20th in the league to fifth. More impressively, they did so while also improving their defense. The Bucks were 18th in the league in defensive rating last season and first in 2018/19.

Suddenly, just one season removed from finishing as a 44-win squad and a relatively easy out, the Bucks are a 60-win behemoth and a legitimate title contender. Attribute some of that to the obvious strides Giannis Antetokounmpo took, but attribute the rest to the man that led the transformation from the sidelines.

Chris Crouse: Kenny Atkinson (Nets)
The Spurs were essentially forced to trade away Kawhi Leonard, and Gregg Popovich picked up the pieces and made the postseason. Doc Rivers took a Clippers team whose front office appeared to de-emphasize this campaign (perhaps as part of a plan to pursue Leonard this offseason) and improbably delivered the City of L.A.’s only playoff berth. Mike Budenholzer surveyed the Bucks’ roster and implemented a scheme that led Milwaukee to become the best team in the East.

None may be as impressive as Atkinson. The Atkinson-led Nets found their way to the postseason as a result of the coach’s on-court precision in play-calling and off-court player development. Several coaches deserve to be considered for the COY award, but Atkinson tops the field for his work in Brooklyn.

Arthur Hill: Mike Budenholzer (Bucks)
Budenholzer transformed the Bucks by emphasizing 3-pointers and defense, posting the league’s best record with a team that won 44 games last season. Antetokounmpo has taken a noticeable leap forward under Budenholzer, who has maximized the Greek Freak’s potential by surrounding him with shooters. Michael Malone, Kenny Atkinson, Steve Clifford and Doc Rivers all deserve consideration, but Budenholzer stands out for turning the Bucks into legitimate title contenders.

Luke Adams: Mike Budenholzer (Bucks)
In a crowded field of Coach of the Year candidates for 2018/19, Budenholzer wasn’t necessarily the one who did the most with the least, but he had a major hand in the Bucks‘ breakthrough season. Even those of us that were high on Milwaukee entering the season didn’t expect this — the team’s 60 wins were an NBA high, and its +8.6 net rating was the best mark since the 2016/17 Warriors.

Although much was made of Budenholzer’s ability to unlock the Bucks’ offensive potential by spacing the floor around Antetokounmpo with shooters, his work on the other end of the court impressed me more. Milwaukee ranked 18th in the league in defensive rating in 2017/18, and its offseason additions – including Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova – weren’t exactly All-Defense contenders. The Bucks were nonetheless the hardest team to score on at the rim in 2018/19 despite rarely fouling, and improved their overall defensive rating to a league-best 104.9.

Dana Gauruder: Doc Rivers (Clippers)
Stripped of his title as president of basketball operations a couple years ago, Rivers was able to fully concentrate on what he does best. He did a masterful job of massaging victories out of an ever-changing roster. The Clippers won 48 games despite trading their top scorer (Tobias Harris) at the deadline. They also changed centers and shooting guards in mid-stream and had a rookie point guard running the show. Yet they got better as they went along, going 18-8 after the first week of February.

Who is your pick for Coach of the Year? Share your choices and your thoughts in the comment section below!

Previously:

Still to come:

  • Sixth Man of the Year
  • Most Improved Player
  • Rookie of the Year
  • Defensive Player of the Year
  • Most Valuable Player

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Poll: Most Appealing NBA Head Coaching Opening

April 16th, 2019 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

As our head coaching search tracker shows, there are currently three NBA head coaching jobs up for grabs. That number looked like it might get as high as five early in the offseason, but the Kings quickly replaced Dave Joerger with Luke Walton, while the Timberwolves appear likely – for now – to retain interim coach Ryan Saunders.

That leaves three teams in the market for a head coach. The most noteworthy club in that group is the Lakers, who are undergoing some upheaval in the front office as well after Magic Johnson‘s abrupt resignation.

Walton was originally hired in Los Angeles to help develop the team’s group of young prospects, and he was doing a decent job of that before the 2018/19 season rolled around. Once LeBron James joined the Lakers, expectations changed for Walton and the team, and like David Blatt in Cleveland, he was no longer viewed as the right man for the job.

Coaching James isn’t an easy job, and the Lakers are in disarray at the moment, but they’re still the Lakers, one of the most storied franchises in any sport. And of the three teams seeking head coaches, they’re the closest to contention, particularly if they’re able to land a second star to pair with LeBron on the trade market or in free agency this summer. That should make the job appealing to veteran coaches, particularly those with previous head coaching experiences.

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, will likely be in the market for a younger, up-and-coming coach who has a strong player-development background and perhaps extensive experience as an assistant as well.

With LeBron no longer around in Cleveland, the Cavaliers are still in the relatively early stages of a full-fledged rebuild, with building blocks like Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance, and a top-six pick in 2019 making up the future core. Since contention isn’t an immediate priority, the Cavs will want to find their own version of Kenny Atkinson or Lloyd Pierce, who can grow along with the team’s young players.

As for the Grizzlies, they might be somewhere in the middle. As long as Mike Conley is still on the roster, the team won’t be entering a full-fledged rebuild. But there’s no guarantee that the new decision-makers in the front office won’t trade Conley this season, kick-starting a rebuild centered around Jaren Jackson.

None of these jobs necessarily represents a perfect situation for a new head coach. The Lakers haven’t been to the postseason since 2013, their president of basketball operations just quit on the team, and no NBA player has more power than LeBron. The Cavs’ roster isn’t exactly loaded with talent, and Dan Gilbert doesn’t have a reputation as one of the league’s best owners. The Grizzlies just fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff hours after since-demoted general manager Chris Wallace assured reporters that Bickerstaff would be back for 2019/20.

What do you think? Which of these head coaching openings looks most appealing? And would the Kings have been your pick if they hadn’t filled their vacancy so quickly?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section to share your thoughts!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

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Key 2019 NBA Offseason Dates, Deadlines

April 15th, 2019 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

With the 2018/19 NBA regular season in the books, nearly half of the league’s teams have shifted their focus to the offseason, and others will soon follow suit. With that in mind, it’s time to retire our list of the NBA’s key in-season dates and deadlines for the ’18/19 campaign in favor of an updated offseason calendar of the most important dates facing teams and players in the coming months.

Here’s a breakdown of many of the NBA’s important dates and deadlines for the next few months, right up until training camps open for the 2019/20 season:

April 21

  • Deadline for early entrants to declare for the NBA draft (10:59pm CT).
    • Note: For more information on draft-related dates and deadlines, check out our full breakdown.

May 14

  • NBA draft lottery.

May 15-19

  • NBA draft combine.

May 29

  • Last day for early entrants to withdraw from the NBA draft and retain their NCAA eligibility (10:59pm CT).

June 10

  • Deadline for all early entrants (including international players) to withdraw from the NBA draft (4:00pm CT).

June 16

  • Latest possible end date for the NBA Finals.

June 20

  • NBA draft day.

June 24

  • Last day for potential restricted free agents to exercise player options.
  • NBA awards show.

June 29

  • Last day for decisions on player, team and early termination options, unless individual contracts specify otherwise.
  • Last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.
  • Teams can begin contacting players and agents to set up free agent meetings (6:00pm ET).

June 30

June 30 (6:00pm ET):

  • Official start of the 2019/20 NBA league year.
  • July moratorium begins.
  • Free agents can begin reaching verbal agreements with teams.
  • Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
  • Teams can begin signing players to rookie scale contracts, minimum salary contracts, and two-way contracts.

July 6

  • July moratorium ends (11:00am CT)
  • Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades.
  • The two-day period for matching an RFA offer sheet signed during the moratorium begins.

July 13

  • Last day for teams to unilaterally withdraw qualifying offers to restricted free agents.

July 15

  • Last day for teams to issue required tenders to unsigned first-round picks; those players become free agents on July 16 if not tendered.

August 31

  • Last day for teams to waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2018/19 salaries.

August 31 – September 15

  • FIBA World Cup 2019 in China.

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.

Late September (specific dates TBA)

  • Training camps open.

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

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Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Award Picks: Executive Of The Year

April 15th, 2019 at 2:52pm CST by Hoops Rumors

While the NBA won’t announce this year’s award winners until June, we’re making our picks for 2019’s major awards over the next two weeks.

The Hoops Rumors writing team has weighed in with our choices below, but we also want to know which players, coaches, and executives you think are most deserving of the hardware this season, so jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts.

We’re kicking things off today with the award for Executive of the Year. Here are our selections:

Chris Crouse: Jon Horst (Bucks)
There are many deserving candidates this season, but Horst’s work in putting a full team around Giannis Antetokounmpo is especially deserving of recognition. The Bucks had the best record in the league backed by the best defense in the NBA and a top-5 offense.

Milwaukee’s maneuvers over the past few years began this journey to what could be a 2018/19 Eastern Conference crown and Horst’s transactions since the end of last season took the team from an up-and-coming squad to a legit contender. Signing Brook Lopez with the bi-annual exception, negotiating the pair of trades that netted Nikola Mirotic, and inking Eric Bledsoe to a long-term deal all qualify as wins. Landing Mike Budenholzer to coach the team is also a major accomplishment.

The executive of the year award sometimes rewards team presidents and GMs for the culmination of their work and in other years, it’s based on the moves made within the calendar year. Horst checks off both boxes and should receive this season’s hardware.

Clark Crum: Jon Horst (Bucks)
The Bucks won 60 games when nobody expected them to do so and finished with the franchise’s best regular season record in 38 years. Horst’s best move was clearly hiring head coach Budenholzer this offseason, but let us not forget the other, smaller transactions he oversaw along the way. First, he didn’t overpay Jabari Parker, opting instead to rescind the former No. 2 overall pick’s qualifying offer. He then signed (no, stole) Lopez for only $3.3MM and also traded for both George Hill and Mirotic. The Bucks had a terrific season, and Horst should be recognized as such.

Austin Kent: Brett Brown/Elton Brand (Sixers)
The departure of LeBron James last summer left a gaping hole at the top of the Eastern Conference and there was no shortage of teams eager to make short-term moves and fill it. The front office that best positioned itself to leave a larger impact in 2018/19 than it did last season was Philadelphia.

Brett Brown and Elton Brand helped the Sixers evolve this season from an upstart young team with a hypothetically great young duo into a legitimate championship threat. They could have played it safe and let Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons sharpen their teeth in the playoffs – nobody would have derided them for a loss in the first or second round – but they altered their roster significantly to pad their core with a hardened leader in Jimmy Butler and underrated supplemental star in Tobias Harris.

The fact that they did so while patching together a competent rotation on the fly and not mortgaging their future is an accomplishment worthy of praise.

Dana Gauruder: Jon Horst (Bucks)
We’ve seen other small market teams make missteps while building around a superstar. Horst and the Bucks have mostly made the right moves while heading into the playoffs with the NBA’s best record.

Lopez turned into one of the biggest steals in last season’s free agent market. Horst won the bidding for Mirotic at the trade deadline and the sharp-shooting forward could be a key in the playoffs. Hill’s contract (non-guaranteed $18MM next season) gives the front office some flexibility. Bledsoe’s extension near season’s end was a reasonable price for a starting point guard. All in all, nice work for a young GM.

Luke Adams: Masai Ujiri (Raptors)
The criteria for Executive of the Year isn’t quite as byzantine as the criteria for some of the NBA’s other awards, but it can still be tricky to determine how heavily to weigh the impact of an executive’s current-season moves versus his previous moves coming to fruition. In Ujiri’s case, it’s hard to separate the two, given how obviously they’re connected.

His biggest swing – acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a draft pick – was a direct response to the Raptors’ previous playoff failures and has worked out so far, raising the team’s postseason ceiling. Meanwhile, many of Ujiri’s previous non-lottery draft picks or UDFA signings have either developed into important rotation players – like Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, and especially Pascal Siakam – or have been key pieces in major trades, as was the case for Poeltl and Delon Wright (dealt in the package for Marc Gasol).

It remains to be seen whether the Raptors can exorcise their playoff demons and make a legitimate title run, but Ujiri has been aggressive and creative in building the most talented roster Toronto has ever had.

Arthur Hill: Jon Horst (Bucks)
The Bucks have seemed destined for greatness ever since drafting Antetokounmpo, but Horst found the right complementary players and the right coach to make it happen. Signing Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova in free agency and then adding Mirotic in a deadline trade gave the Bucks plenty of shooters to surround Antetokounmpo and to maximize Budenholzer’s philosophy that emphasizes the 3-pointer. Horst made all the right decisions to lead Milwaukee to the best record in the league.

Who is your pick for Executive of the Year? Share your choices and your thoughts in the comment section below!

Up next: Coach of the Year.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Hoops Rumors Originals: 4/6/19 – 4/13/19

April 13th, 2019 at 4:32pm CST by Luke Adams

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:

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2019 Pre-Lottery NBA Draft Order

April 13th, 2019 at 7:51am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA conducted its draft tiebreakers on Friday evening, further cementing the draft order for 2019. While we’ll have to wait until the May 14 draft lottery to determine the exact order for this year’s event, we now know what most of the 60 selections look like.

Listed below is the pre-lottery 2019 NBA draft order. Each lottery team’s chances of landing the No. 1 overall pick are noted in parentheses. We’ve also included notes for picks whose status remains up in the air — for instance, the Grizzlies‘ first-round pick could still technically end up with either Memphis or the Celtics.

For teams with identical records, Friday’s tiebreakers only determined the first-round order — that order is reversed in the second round. As such, some second-round picks may hinge on next month’s lottery results.

For instance, even though the Cavaliers won the tiebreaker vs. the Suns for the No. 2 spot in the lottery order, Phoenix could still leapfrog Cleveland in the lottery, in which case the Cavs’ second-round pick (owned by the Sixers) would move ahead of the Suns’ second-rounder.

We’ll update this list after the May 14 lottery once the official order is set, but here’s the tentative 2019 NBA draft order:

First Round:

  1. New York Knicks (14.0%)
  2. Cleveland Cavaliers (14.0%)
  3. Phoenix Suns (14.0%)
  4. Chicago Bulls (12.5%)
  5. Atlanta Hawks (10.5%)
  6. Washington Wizards (9.0%)
  7. New Orleans Pelicans (6.0%)
  8. Memphis Grizzlies (6.0%)
    • Note: The Celtics will receive this pick if it falls out of the top eight (42.6% chance).
  9. Atlanta Hawks (from Mavericks) (6.0%)
    • Note: The Mavericks will keep this pick if it moves up into the top four (26.2% chance).
  10. Minnesota Timberwolves (3.0%)
  11. Los Angeles Lakers (2.0%)
  12. Charlotte Hornets (1.0%)
  13. Miami Heat (1.0%)
  14. Boston Celtics (from Kings) (1.0%)
    • Note: The Sixers will receive this pick if it moves up to No. 1 (1.0% chance).
  15. Detroit Pistons
  16. Orlando Magic
  17. Brooklyn Nets
  18. Indiana Pacers
  19. San Antonio Spurs
  20. Boston Celtics (from Clippers)
  21. Oklahoma City Thunder
  22. Boston Celtics
  23. Utah Jazz
  24. Philadelphia 76ers
  25. Portland Trail Blazers
  26. Cleveland Cavaliers (from Rockets)
  27. Brooklyn Nets (from Nuggets)
  28. Golden State Warriors
  29. San Antonio Spurs (from Raptors)
  30. Milwaukee Bucks

Second Round:

  1. Brooklyn Nets (from Knicks)
  2. Phoenix Suns
  3. Philadelphia 76ers (from Cavaliers)
    • Note: Sixers would swap places with Suns if Phoenix gets higher first-round pick than Cleveland via lottery.
  4. Philadelphia 76ers (from Bulls)
  5. Atlanta Hawks
  6. Charlotte Hornets (from Wizards)
  7. Dallas Mavericks
  8. Chicago Bulls (from Grizzlies)
  9. New Orleans Pelicans
    • Note: If Mavericks or Grizzlies move ahead of Pelicans via first-round lottery, their pick(s) would fall behind New Orleans’ in second round.
  10. Sacramento Kings (from Timberwolves)
  11. Atlanta Hawks (from Lakers)
  12. Philadelphia 76ers (from Kings)
  13. Minnesota Timberwolves (from Heat)
  14. Atlanta Hawks (from Hornets)
    • Note: If Kings or Heat move ahead of Hornets via first-round lottery, their pick(s) would fall behind Charlotte’s in second round.
  15. Detroit Pistons
  16. Orlando Magic (from Nets)
  17. Sacramento Kings (from Magic)
  18. Los Angeles Clippers
  19. San Antonio Spurs
  20. Indiana Pacers
  21. Boston Celtics
  22. Charlotte Hornets (from Thunder)
  23. Utah Jazz
  24. Philadelphia 76ers
  25. New York Knicks (from Rockets)
  26. Los Angeles Clippers (from Trail Blazers)
  27. New Orleans Pelicans (from Nuggets)
  28. Golden State Warriors
  29. Toronto Raptors
  30. Sacramento Kings (from Bucks)

Information from NBA.com and Tankathon.com was used in the creation of this post.

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Free Agent Stock Watch 2019: Pacific Division

April 12th, 2019 at 9:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Every week, Hoops Rumors takes a closer look at players who will be free agents or could become free agents next offseason. We examine if their stock is rising or falling due to performance and other factors. This week, we turn our attention to the Pacific Division:

Klay Thompson, Warriors, 29, SG (Up) – Signed to a four-year, $69MM deal in 2015
The smart money has Kevin Durant signing elsewhere this summer, which makes it more imperative for Golden State to keep its dynamic backcourt intact. The Warriors would probably have to max out Thompson at $190MM over five years and ownership appears willing to do so. If not, rivals with ample cap space would certainly give him a four-year, $140MM deal, the max they could offer. In any case, Thompson won’t have to take a discount the way the market figures to play out. Even in a somewhat down year by his standards, he still had the sixth-most 3-point makes in the NBA.

Reggie Bullock, Lakers, 28, SG (Down) — Signed to a two-year, $5MM deal in 2017
The cap-strapped Pistons figured they couldn’t re-sign Bullock, so they traded him to the Lakers for a couple of assets. He was Detroit’s most reliable wing player but things didn’t go well for him in L.A. He never got into a shooting rhythm with the Lakers, as the career 39.2% long-range gunner made just 34.3% of his 3-point shots. Bullock’s price tag might have gone down somewhat, though he should still field some multi-year offers. He might even return to Detroit, where he played four seasons, if the Pistons can fit him into their budget.

Rodney McGruder, Clippers, 27, SF (Up) – Signed to a three-year, $3.4MM deal in 2016
McGruder finished his season in the Clippers organization, though he’s ineligible for the playoffs. Miami put him on waivers to get under the luxury tax and the Clippers claimed him. The Clippers gained control of his Early Bird rights and can make him a restricted free agent by extending a $3MM qualifying offer. It seems that McGruder might benefit from Miami’s surprising move, as he could claim a rotation role with his new club depending upon how well they do in free agency. If they choose not to give him a QO, he should be able to secure a contract on the open market befitting a second-unit player.

Jamal Crawford, Suns, 39, SG (Up) – Signed to a one-year, $2.39MM deal in 2018
How crazy is this? Crawford entered the league in 2000, the same year Zion Williamson was born. They could be teammates next season. That’s if Crawford decides re-sign with Phoenix. He wants to play at least another year and why not? This week, Crawford became the oldest player in NBA history to record a 50-point game. Crawford appeared in 64 games with Phoenix after playing a minimum of 79 the previous three years. He’ll be providing offense off the bench somewhere next season, a tribute to his preparation, perseverance and durability.

Willie Cauley-Stein, Kings, 25, C (Down)– Signed to a four-year, $15.35MM deal in 2015
Cauley-Stein said prior to the season he was “ready to get paid” after his walk year. He started all but one game this season for Sacramento but didn’t really enhance his value. He’s not a shot-blocker. He doesn’t rebound particularly well for his size. He can’t shoot free throws, nor does he pose much of an offensive threat. The Kings can make him a restricted free agent by extending a $6.25MM qualifying offer but even that’s not a given. Cauley-Stein will certainly get a raise compared to his rookie deal but it probably won’t be what he expected.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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NBA Player Option Decisions For 2019/20

April 12th, 2019 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

A number of NBA contracts include player options in the final year. Those option years give the player the opportunity to either opt into the final year of his deal, finishing out his contract, or to decline the option and hit the free agent market a year early.

In 2016 and 2017, as the salary cap spiked, only eight of 53 veterans who held player options on their contracts actually exercised those options. Half of those eight players (Tim Duncan, Caron Butler, Mo Williams, and Spencer Hawes) didn’t play a single NBA minute after picking up their options, having either retired or been waived. Another one of the eight (Chris Paul) only opted in because it cleared the way for him to be traded to his preferred destination.

However, the pendulum swung back in the other direction in 2018. With the cap increasing by smaller margins following 2016’s leap, and a number of recently-signed contracts turning into player-friendly – rather than team-friendly – deals, 20 of the 28 veterans who held player options for 2018/19 exercised those options.

That trend figures to continue this year. Although there are some marquee players who will certainly opt out in search of a raise and a longer-term commitment, many of the guys making option decisions are unlikely to do better on the open market than they will if they simply opt in.

This year’s player options are listed below. Option decisions are due by the end of the day on June 29 unless a player’s contract specifically calls for an earlier deadline, so we’ll continue to update this list through to note the latest decisions.

Point Guards

Shooting Guards

Small Forwards

Power Forwards

Centers

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Potential 2019 RFAs Whose Qualifying Offers Will Be Impacted By Starter Criteria

April 12th, 2019 at 8:51am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s rookie scale, which determines how much first-round picks earn during their first four NBA seasons, also dictates how much the qualifying offers will be worth for those players when they reach restricted free agency after year four. However, the value of those qualifying offers can fluctuate depending on whether or not a player has met the “starter criteria.”

Here’s how the starter criteria works:

A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency.

A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. For instance, if a player started 50 games in 2016/17 and 32 in 2017/18, he’d meet the starter criteria, since his average number of starts over the last two seasons is 41.

A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria can affect the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:

  • A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
  • A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
  • A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
  • For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.

Extending a qualifying offer to a player eligible for restricted free agency officially makes that player an RFA, ensuring that his team has the right of first refusal if he signs an offer sheet with another club. It also gives the player the option of signing that one-year QO.

Generally, the value of a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer isn’t hugely important, since very few RFAs accept those offers outright. There are exceptions though.

Two years ago, for instance, both players who signed their one-year QOs – Suns center Alex Len and Mavericks center Nerlens Noel – failed to meet the starter criteria heading into restricted free agency, reducing the value of their QOs to approximately $4.2MM (from $6.4MM and $5.85MM, respectively). Had Len and Noel met the starter criteria and been eligible for those larger QOs, their free agencies could have played out differently.

Top-14 picks who failed to meet starter criteria:

With that in mind, let’s check in on how this year’s RFAs-to-be will be impacted by the starter criteria. Listed below are the former top-14 picks on track for restricted free agency who have not met the starter criteria. These players will be eligible for qualifying offers worth $4,485,665.

No player was hit harder by missing out on the starter criteria than Porzingis, who had no chance at meeting the playing-time requirements due to his torn ACL. If he’d stayed healthy, the former No. 4 overall pick would’ve been in line for a qualifying offer worth just over $7.5MM. Of course, it may not matter much, since Porzingis is expected to sign a long-term deal with the Mavericks anyway.

For Johnson, Kaminsky, and Lyles, falling short of the starter criteria was more about their roles than health issues.

First-round picks between 10-30 who met starter criteria:

Only one player falls into this group this season.

Because Oubre was selected between No. 10 and No. 30 in the 2015 draft and met the starter criteria, he’s eligible for a qualifying offer worth $4,915,726 instead of $4,485,665. No other players fit the bill this year, as many of the players drafted between Nos. 10 and 30 in 2015 have either already been extended or are no longer on their rookie contracts.

Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the 23rd overall pick in 2015, was the strongest candidate to join Oubre in this group, but fell just short of meeting the criteria, having started 80 games over the last two seasons — he needed to get to 82. Wizards forward Bobby Portis, the 22nd overall pick, also would have had a shot if he stayed healthy, but injuries limited his minutes over the last two seasons.

Second-round picks and UDFAs who met starter criteria:

The players listed below signed as second-round picks or undrafted free agents, but have met the starter criteria and are now eligible for a qualifying offer worth $3,021,354.

Tomas Satoransky (Wizards) was another player who qualified for this group, but because his initial NBA contract was more lucrative than most, his qualifying offer will already be worth $3,911,484 based on other criteria.

There were a few second-round picks and UDFAs who just missed out on meeting the starter criteria, including Dorian Finney-Smith of the Mavericks (1,985 minutes played), Bulls guard Ryan Arcidiacono (1,961 minutes), and Clippers center Ivica Zubac (37 starts).

Those players, and the rest of this year’s restricted free agents, won’t have their projected qualifying offers impacted by the starter criteria.

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