Hoops Rumors Originals

Community Shootaround: Nets’ Playoff Aspirations

Nets GM Sean Marks raised a few eyebrows earlier this month when he stated the team’s goal this upcoming season was to make the playoffs. He told season-ticket holders that he thinks there’s enough talent on the roster to make that happen.

“I don’t see any reason why we can’t make a push for the playoffs,” he said. “Isn’t that the objective here? We’re not sitting here trying to win 20 games, so let’s put our best foot forward and push each other and see where it goes.”

It’s no secret that next summer is even more important to the franchise. Brooklyn will have gobs of salary-cap space and can make a strong push for two or even three top-flight free agents.

According to Basketball Insiders, the Nets have less than $17MM in guaranteed salaries on their books next summer. Even if Allen Crabbe exercises his $18.5MM player option and the team exercises its options on Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen, it will still be able to chase a couple of big-name free agents. Failing that, it could absorb the contract of an All-Star caliber player or two in trades.

As for the upcoming season, the Nets don’t have anything resembling an All-Star on the roster but they should have plenty of competition for minutes. If D’Angelo Russell can remain healthy and start playing at the level expected of a No. 2 overall pick in the draft, Marks’ goal would seem more realistic.

Brooklyn also has some other notable options at point guard, including Spencer Dinwiddie and free agent addition Shabazz Napier. LeVert and Joe Harris will likely see the most action at shooting guard, while holdover starter DeMarre Carroll and Allen Crabbe are a solid 1-2 punch at small forward.

Along with Allen, the Nets’ power rotation will include returnee Rondae Hollis-Jefferson; Kenneth Faried, acquired from the Nuggets in a salary dump; a prolific rebounder Ed Davis, another free agent signee.

Perhaps the biggest reason for Marks’ optimism is the general weakness of the East beyond the Celtics, Sixers and Raptors (assuming Kawhi Leonard is healthy).

That leads to our question of the day: Do the Nets have enough pieces to make the playoffs?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.

Community Shootaround: Two-Way Contracts

Twelve months ago, few NBA fans understood what two-way contracts were. After a year in place, it’s clear that teams have vastly different philosophies on how to utilize this new class of player.

Instituted under the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement, two-way contracts give the best G League prospects a chance to get some NBA exposure, while giving teams an easily accessible supply of reinforcements in case of injuries. Each team has a pair of two-way slots to use, and players with two-way contracts are limited to 45 days of NBA service, which counts practices and traveling as well as games.

A player who hits the 45-day limit cannot spend any more time with his NBA team until the G League season ends, unless his contract is converted to a standard NBA deal. Players with two-way contracts are also ineligible for the postseason, which is why the Warriors had to open a roster spot for Quinn Cook in April, which cost them Omri Casspi.

Cook was the most successful two-way player last season, appearing in 33 games, starting 18, and posting a 9.5/2.5/2.7 line. He was a valuable reserve for the Warriors all the way through their run to a championship.

While NBA service time is limited in two-way deals, so is compensation. The minimum salary ranges from $838,464 for a player with no experience to $1,621,415 for a player with four years of service, which is the maximum allowable for a two-way contract. Rules allow two-way players to collect up to $275K, but most make far less.

That salary structure is among the reasons the contracts aren’t universally popular. Even though they create 60 more NBA jobs, an unidentified agent recently told Justin Jett of DefPen that the league is taking advantage of the new system.

“Teams are explicitly violating two-way compensation rules,” the agent claimed. “There’s no good way to ‘police’ these deals. Agents get paid basically nothing on these deals and teams flat out lie to try to steal money from, and exploit, two-way contract players.”

We want to get your opinion. Have two-way contracts been good for the NBA and the players, or do changes need to be made? Please leave your responses in the space below.

Hoops Rumors Originals: 8/18/18 – 8/25/18

Every week, the writing team here at Hoops Rumors creates original content to complement our news feed. With the NBA offseason in full swing, here are our numerous segments and features from the past seven days:

NBA Players With Trade Kickers In 2018/19

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

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

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

The trade kicker on Kelly Olynyk‘s contract is an unusual one, as it calls for him to see either a set amount ($2MM) or 15% of the value of his contract, whichever is less. Regardless of whether a trade kicker is set at a fixed amount or a percentage, the bonus can’t exceed 15% of the remaining value of the contract. Most trade kickers are worth 15%, the highest percentage allowed.

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

Using contract from information from Basketball Insiders, here’s a list of the NBA players who have active trade kickers for 2018/19, listed alphabetically, along with the details of those trade bonuses:

The following players have trade bonuses on their contracts, but those bonuses would be voided if they were to be traded during the 2018/19 league year, since they’re already earning this season’s maximum salary:

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Longest-Tenured NBA GMs/Presidents

When we examined the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches last month, we noted that it has been a year of changes on NBA sidelines, with nearly a third of the league’s 30 teams having named new coaches since the 2017/18 season began. We haven’t seen the same level of turnover in teams’ front offices though — only three teams have replaced their top decision-makers this year, and one of those three clubs likely wouldn’t have made any changes if a series of Twitter burner accounts hadn’t forced their hand.

Although there have been more recent changes in the head coaching rankings than in front offices, the same name tops the list of longest-tenured head coaches and GMs/presidents: Gregg Popovich actually became the Spurs‘ president of basketball operations two years before he took over as the club’s head coach. Still, his place in San Antonio’s hierarchy is one of a handful of situations around the league that’s somewhat difficult to pin down.

While only one person holds a team’s head coaching job, that same team could carry a variety of front office executives with titles like general manager, president of basketball operations, or executive VP of basketball operations. In some cases, it’s not always which clear which executive should be considered the club’s head of basketball operations, or which one has the ultimate final say on roster decisions. That distinction becomes even more nebulous when taking into account team ownership.

For our list of the longest-tenured GMs/presidents in the NBA, we’ve done our best to identify the top exec in each front office. In the case of the Spurs, we’ve listed Popovich as the club’s top man, since he has the final say on basketball decisions, even though GM R.C. Buford plays a huge part in that process too. If there’s any ambiguity in a front office, we’ve added a note below to explain our thinking.

Without further ado, here’s the list of the NBA’s longest-tenured heads of basketball operations, along with their respective titles and the dates they were hired or promoted:

  1. Gregg Popovich, Spurs (president): May 31, 1994
    • GM R.C. Buford has had a significant voice in personnel moves since becoming GM in 2002, but Popovich still has final say on those decisions.
  2. Pat Riley, Heat (president): September 2, 1995
  3. John Paxson, Bulls (executive VP): April 14, 2003
    • GM Gar Forman has played a major part in personnel decisions since his hiring in 2009, but Paxson is believed to still be the head of basketball operations, reporting only to ownership.
  4. Danny Ainge, Celtics (president): May 9, 2003
  5. Ernie Grunfeld, Wizards (president): June 30, 2003
  6. Donn Nelson, Mavericks (GM/president): March 19, 2005
    • Owner Mark Cuban is also heavily involved in basketball decisions and ultimately has final say.
  7. Daryl Morey, Rockets (GM): May 6, 2007
  8. Sam Presti, Thunder (GM/executive VP): June 7, 2007
  9. Dell Demps, Pelicans (GM/senior VP): July 21, 2010
    • Executive VP of basketball operations Mickey Loomis is also in the picture here, but Loomis – who is also the top man in the New Orleans Saints’ front office – seems to let Demps handle basketball decisions for the most part.
  10. Bob Myers, Warriors (GM/president): April 24, 2012
  11. Neil Olshey, Trail Blazers (president): June 4, 2012
  12. Dennis Lindsey, Jazz (GM): August 7, 2012
  13. Ryan McDonough, Suns (GM): May 7, 2013
  14. Masai Ujiri, Raptors (president): May 31, 2013
  15. Tim Connelly, Nuggets (president): June 17, 2013
  16. Chris Wallace, Grizzlies (GM): May 19, 2014
    • Initially named the Grizzlies’ GM in June 2007, Wallace was demoted in 2012 as Jason Levien assumed control of basketball operations. Wallace regained his front office power in May 2014.
  17. Vlade Divac, Kings (GM): March 3, 2015
  18. Sean Marks, Nets (GM): February 18, 2016
  19. Tom Thibodeau, Timberwolves (president): April 20, 2016
  20. Magic Johnson, Lakers (president): February 21, 2017
  21. Kevin Pritchard, Pacers (president): May 1, 2017
  22. Jeff Weltman, Magic (president): May 22, 2017
  23. Travis Schlenk, Hawks (GM): May 25, 2017
  24. Jon Horst, Bucks (GM): June 16, 2017
  25. Koby Altman, Cavaliers (GM): June 19, 2017
  26. Steve Mills, Knicks (president): June 28, 2017
  27. Lawrence Frank, Clippers (president): August 4, 2017
  28. Mitch Kupchak, Hornets (GM/president): April 8, 2018
  29. Ed Stefanski, Pistons (senior advisor): May 24, 2018
    • The Pistons have not technically named a president of basketball operations or general manager to replace Stan Van Gundy, but Stefanski has been making personnel decisions this offseason and serves as the de facto head of basketball ops.
  30. N/A, Sixers
    • Head coach Brett Brown has been the Sixers’ interim president of basketball operations since Bryan Colangelo‘s dismissal, but Philadelphia still intends to hire a permanent replacement.

Information from Basketball-Reference was used in the creation of this post.

Poll: Best, Worst Extensions Taking Effect In 2018/19

We’ve spent the last month and a half evaluating the best and the worst of this year’s free agent deals, but there’s another series of big-money contracts going into effect this season that have been somewhat overlooked during that time.

Eight players signed contract extensions in 2017 that will begin in 2018/19, as our 2017 extension tracker shows. Those players are as follows:

All of these extensions were completed in September, October, or November of 2017, meaning they’re less than a year old. Nonetheless, it’s fascinating to consider how differently many of them look now, as opposed to when they signed.

Powell, for instance, took a step backward last year for the Raptors, posting new career lows in PPG (5.5), FG% (.401), and 3PT% (.285), among other categories. Now, a signing that initially looked like a savvy move to lock up a promising young wing seems like it could become an albatross.

On the other hand, Richardson – who signed the same deal as Powell – improved his stock in 2017/18, starting 81 games for the Heat and averaging 12.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.9 APG with a .451/.378/.845 shooting line. Richardson looks like a key piece in Miami going forward, and the team looks smart for having extended him early.

The pair of Sixers extensions appear more team-friendly now than they did 10 months ago too. Embiid is coming off a monster season in which he was able to stay on the court for most of the year, and his deal includes some injury protection if the 76ers need it. As for Covington, his extension was technically worth $60MM because he was able to renegotiate a big raise on his 2017/18 salary. Now that the new years are taking effect though, the $46.9MM price tag for the next four seasons looks even more manageable.

What do you think? Which of the 2017 contract extensions taking effect this season do you think is the most team-friendly deal of the bunch?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

On the other end of the spectrum, which of these extensions is the least favorable from a team’s perspective?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Remaining Offseason Questions: Northwest Division

NBA teams have now completed the brunt of their offseason work, with the draft and free agency practically distant memories. Still, with training camps more than a month away, most clubs around the league have at least one or two outstanding issues they’ve yet to address.

We’re in the midst of looking at all 30 NBA teams, separating them by division and checking in on the key outstanding question that each club still needs to answer before the 2018/19 regular season begins.

After focusing on the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast last week, we’ve moved to the Western Conference this week, starting with the Southwest and Pacific. Today, we’re finishing things off by focusing on the Northwest…

Denver Nuggets
Will the Nuggets sign Trey Lyles to a rookie scale extension?

The trade that sent Lyles to Denver won’t exactly go down as one of the great moves in Nuggets history, considering it cost the team the lottery pick that became Donovan Mitchell in last year’s draft. Still, don’t hold that against Lyles, who enjoyed a breakout year in 2017/18, establishing new career bests in PPG (9.9), RPG (4.8), FG% (.491), and 3PT% (.381) as one of the first players off Denver’s bench.

Lyles is eligible for a rookie scale extension up until October 15 this year, and while role players generally aren’t strong candidates for early deals of that nature, it’s a possibility worth considering for the Nuggets. Lyles is still just 22 years old, and if the club views him as one of its long-term building blocks, it could make sense to lock him up now before his role and his numbers increase further.

Unless they plan to exercise Paul Millsap‘s $30MM team option next summer, the Nuggets should have cap flexibility going forward, meaning a Lyles extension wouldn’t hamstring them. With Nikola Jokic, Gary Harris, and Will Barton already secured to long-term deals, the Nuggets will have to decide whether they want Lyles to join that group now, or if they’ll take their chances with him in restricted free agency in 2019.

Minnesota Timberwolves
When will the Timberwolves sign Karl-Anthony Towns to a rookie scale extension, and what will it look like?

In the case of the Timberwolves and Towns, the questions isn’t whether or not an extension is coming — it’s a matter of when it will happen, and what it will look like.

Fourth-year players who get offered maximum-salary rookie scale extensions don’t turn them down, and it sounds like an offer of that caliber is on the table for Towns. There’s no rush to finalize it. Last year, Andrew Wiggins didn’t sign his max deal with the Timberwolves until October 11, just days before the regular season got underway.

There may be a little more room for back-and-forth negotiations with Towns than there was with Wiggins, however. While Wiggins signed a standard 25% maximum-salary extension, Towns would be eligible for a starting salary worth up to 30% of the cap if he earns All-NBA honors again next season. His camp and the Wolves may have to spend some time figuring out whether he’ll receive that full 30% if he qualifies, or if there’s a compromise to be reached between 25-30%.

As our early maximum salary projections for 2019/20 show, the total difference between a five-year, 25% max contract and a five-year, 30% max contract figures to exceed $30MM, so the starting point of Towns’ next deal is an important detail for the two sides to work out.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Will the Thunder release Kyle Singler or attempt to trim additional salary?

The Thunder were able to reduce their team salary and their projected luxury tax bill significantly in the three-way trade that (briefly) sent Carmelo Anthony to Atlanta. Still, Oklahoma City’s total team salary remains just shy of $150MM, creating a potential tax bill of $93MM+. In total, the roster projects to cost nearly $243MM.

Team ownership probably wouldn’t mind cutting costs a little more, and Singler is the most logical release candidate. His $4,996,000 expiring salary can be stretched across three seasons if he’s waived by next Friday. In that scenario, assuming the Thunder leave their 15th roster spot open, stretching Singler would reduce the overall cost of the 2018/19 squad by $20MM, taking into account the reduction in team salary and tax.

Although waiving Singler is the most obvious path to trimming salary, it’s possible the Thunder have another move or two up their sleeves. It’s also possible that they’re satisfied with the cost-cutting moves they’ve already made, and are committed to the current roster. Time will tell.

Portland Trail Blazers
Who will the Trail Blazers sign to their two-way contract slots? Will it matter?

Many teams around the NBA used their new two-way contract slots to great effect last season, relying on those two-way players for significant roles and eventually promoting them to a spot on the 15-man roster. That wasn’t really the case in Portland.

C.J. Wilcox and Wade Baldwin signed two-way deals with the Trail Blazers before the season and barely saw any action all season for the NBA club. Wilcox didn’t play a single minute for the Blazers, while Baldwin appeared in just seven games. All but one of Baldwin’s seven appearances came late in the season after he had been signed to a standard NBA contract.

The Blazers are one of just three NBA teams without a G League affiliate of their own, which is one obstacle in the way of maximizing their two-way contracts. If they need an extra body on a given night, it’s not easy to simply transfer a two-way player from their nearby NBAGL squad to the NBA roster. Last year, for example, Baldwin spent most of his time in the G League with the Texas Legends, whose arena is over 2,000 miles away from the Moda Center in Portland.

Despite the impracticality of shuttling their two-way players back and forth between the NBA and the G League, the Blazers still figure to fill those slots at some point. When they do, it will be interesting to see if they once again favor players with some NBA experience, like Wilcox and Baldwin, rather than developmental prospects that they won’t actually have the opportunity to develop due to their lack of NBAGL affiliate.

Utah Jazz
Do the Jazz need to do… anything before the regular season begins?

It’s fitting that the last of the 30 teams we’ve examined in this series is the one that seemingly has no burning questions to answer before the regular season begins.

The Jazz have their 15-man roster for the regular season virtually set, with Royce O’Neale joining 14 players on guaranteed contracts. They’ve filled their two-way contract slots. They don’t have any extension candidates. They’re not in any trouble from a cap perspective. Their coaching staff and front office is stable. Even their forthcoming rookie scale option decisions for 2019/20 look like simple ones. The Jazz do have one spot on their 20-man offseason roster they could fill, but that’s not exactly a pressing issue.

While there may be some rotation battles to watch during training camp, Utah’s primary focus this fall will be staying healthy — after all, it was Rudy Gobert‘s injury issues that played a significant part in the team’s slow start (19-28) last season. Having finished the regular season on a 29-6 run and won a playoff series, the Jazz will be looking to carry that momentum into the 2018/19 season as they push for a top-three seed in a tough Western Conference.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hoops Rumors’ 2018 NBA Free Agent Tracker

We’re nearly two months into 2018’s NBA free agent period, and with news of contract agreements and signings still trickling in, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams this offseason. 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:

  • Some 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 sometimes be based on what’s been reported to date, so those amounts could 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 2018 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.

2018/19 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team

While most NBA players have fully guaranteed salaries for the 2018/19 season, that rule of thumb doesn’t apply to everyone on a standard NBA contract — not yet, at least.

A number of players who earned regular season roster spots as camp invitees or whose contracts included a non-guaranteed season or two won’t lock in their full-season salaries until January 10, 2018. That’s the day that all players under contract have their salaries fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2018/19 season.

Keeping that in mind, we’re using the space below to keep tabs on the players on each NBA team who don’t have fully guaranteed contracts, using information from Basketball Insiders. The players listed here have non-guaranteed salaries, partially guaranteed salaries, or Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 contracts, which essentially function like non-guaranteed deals.

Unless otherwise noted, these players are on minimum salary contracts. Some players on this list have partial guarantees, which we’ve also mentioned below.

Only players who have formally signed contracts are listed below, so if a player has reportedly reached an agreement with a team on a non-guaranteed deal, we’ll add him to our list when that deal becomes official. You can use our roster counts page to find those players whose deals have been reported but not finalized.

Without further ado, here’s the full list of players without fully guaranteed salaries for 2018/19, broken down by team:

Updated 1-8-19 (12:38am CT)

Atlanta Hawks

  • None

Boston Celtics

  • None

Brooklyn Nets

  • None

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Chicago Bulls

  • None

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • None

Read more

Teams Have One More Week To Stretch 2018/19 Salaries

While NBA teams can use the stretch provision all season long, August 31 represents a key deadline related to the rule. Players who are waived by August 31 can have their current-year salaries stretched, immediately reducing their 2018/19 cap charge. If a player is released after August 31, his current cap hit will remain unchanged, and only the subsequent years of his contract will be stretched.

As we detail in our glossary entry on the subject, the stretch provision is a rule ensuring that any player waived with at least $250K in guaranteed salary remaining on his contract will have the payment schedule of that money spread across multiple years. Teams also have the option of spreading his cap charges across the same number of years.

That schedule is determined as follows:

  • If a player is waived between July 1 and August 31, his remaining salary is paid over twice the number of years remaining on his contract, plus one.
  • If a player is waived between September 1 and June 30, his current-year salary is paid on its normal schedule, with any subsequent years spread over twice the number of remaining years, plus one.
    • Note: If a player in the final year of his contract is waived between September 1 and June 30, the stretch provision does not apply.

For instance, as the Knicks mull whether or not to waive Joakim Noah, here are the options they’ll consider:

Year Leave contract as is
Stretch by 8/31/18
Stretch after 8/31/18
2018/19 $18,530,000 $7,565,000 $18,530,000
2019/20 $19,295,000 $7,565,000 $6,431,666
2020/21 $7,565,000 $6,431,667
2021/22 $7,565,000 $6,431,667
2022/23 $7,565,000

In Noah’s case, there’s essentially no incentive for the Knicks to waive and stretch him by August 31. The team – well over the cap for 2018/19 – wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the extra cap flexibility this season. As such, it makes more sense to keep him on the roster for now and to start considering the possibility of his release sometime after September 1.

The same logic that applies to Noah and the Knicks applies to most teams around the NBA. Outside of perhaps Rodney Hood, there just aren’t many free agents left who are worth using cap room on, so teams aren’t clamoring to create additional space for the 2018/19 season. In other words, we shouldn’t expect to see many players on expensive contracts hit waivers in the next week.

There are a couple of potential exceptions worth watching. The Kings, for instance, have about $11MM in cap room and are currently carrying 16 players on guaranteed contracts. If they decide they want to waive a veteran like Iman Shumpert to get down to 15 players for the regular season, it might make some sense to stretch him by August 31. That would reduce his $11MM+ cap charge to just $3.67MM for 2018/19, opening up another $7MM+ in cap space for Sacramento.

Again though, unless the Kings have a use in mind for that cap room, they’ll likely be reluctant to add extra salary to their cap for two subsequent seasons by stretching Shumpert’s 2018/19 salary. The same can be said of the Suns, who are currently hovering just below the $101.869MM salary cap in terms of total guaranteed salary.

Phoenix is reportedly expected to buy out Darrell Arthur, and if the team does so within the next week, it could trim his $7.46MM cap hit to about $2.49MM, opening up additional cap room. Like the Kings, the Suns would have to have a clear purpose in mind for that space in order to justify adding extra money to their books for two future seasons.