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Hoops Rumors’ 2018 NBA Free Agent Tracker

August 24th, 2018 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

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.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

2018/19 Non-Guaranteed Contracts By Team

August 24th, 2018 at 10:08am CST by Luke Adams

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

Teams Have One More Week To Stretch 2018/19 Salaries

August 24th, 2018 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

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.

Community Shootaround: Proposed Rule Changes

August 23rd, 2018 at 8:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

There may be some new rules for NBA fans to get familiar with when the new season starts in October. The league’s board of governors is expected to vote on three proposed changes when it meets September 20 and 21, with each new rule needing a two-thirds majority for approval.

The new regulations, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, involve resetting the shot clock to 14 seconds instead of 24 after offensive rebounds, redefining a clear-path foul and expanding what can trigger an instant replay to determine whether a “hostile act” has been committed.

Fans of the international game are likely familiar with the 14-second rule, which is designed to speed up play and create more opportunities for losing teams to rally late in a game. In addition to FIBA, the rule has also been used by the G League, the WNBA and the NBA in its summer league contests.

Wojnarowski states that the changes to the clear-path rule would apply to these conditions:

“A personal foul is committed on any offensive player during his team’s transition scoring opportunity.”
“When the foul occurs, the ball is ahead of the tip of the circle in the backcourt, no defensive player is ahead of the offensive player with the scoring opportunity and that offensive player is in control of the ball or a pass to him has been released.”
“The defensive foul deprives the offensive team of a transition scoring opportunity.”

A clear-path violation would still result in two free throws plus another possession for the team with the ball.

The league wants to expand the “hostile act” rule beyond its current limitation of player vs. player. If approved, a hostile act could also involve threatening behavior by players toward referees, coaches or fans.

We want to get your opinion on these proposals. Should the board of directors approve all three of them, and will they help improve the NBA product? Please leave your responses in the space below.

Hawks, Nets Carrying Most 2018/19 Dead Money

August 23rd, 2018 at 1:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Nearly two-thirds of the NBA’s 30 teams are carrying some sort of “dead money” on their salary cap for 2018/19. This dead money is created as a result of having, at some point, waived a player who had guaranteed money left on his contract.

In some cases, teams are carrying cap hits for players even though they released them several years ago. That’s the case in Detroit, for instance, where the Pistons have a $5,331,729 cap charge for Josh Smith this season — the Pistons cut Smith in 2014.

In other situations, the dead money is a result of having waived a player within the last couple months. The Mavericks, for example, created $1,544,951 in dead money when they released Chinanu Onuaku earlier in August.

The dead money total for most teams will increase over the course of the season. A few players on guaranteed contracts will be cut when rosters are reduced to 15 players in October. Some clubs will carry players on non-guaranteed contracts for a little while, then waive them before their full salaries guarantee, leaving a partial cap charge on their books. Expired 10-day contracts are also a common source of dead money later in the season.

Even at this point in the offseason though, there are several teams with a substantial amount of 2018/19 dead money on their cap. This isn’t necessarily a sign of cap mismanagement — the Hawks, for instance, lead the way with nearly $28MM in dead money on their books, but those charges are a result of acquiring and waiving Carmelo Anthony and Jamal Crawford. Both of those players came with first-round picks attached, so Atlanta doesn’t mind the fact that they’re taking up a chunk of the team’s cap room this year.

Here’s the full list of 2018/19 dead money by team, as of August 23, starting with those Hawks:

Atlanta Hawks: $27,838,479
Brooklyn Nets: $24,394,512
Milwaukee Bucks: $7,372,604
Indiana Pacers: $6,245,400
Detroit Pistons: $5,331,729
Portland Trail Blazers: $5,091,108
Sacramento Kings: $4,651,161
Minnesota Timberwolves: $2,045,645
San Antonio Spurs: $1,881,250
Dallas Mavericks: $1,544,951
Memphis Grizzlies: $1,541,538
Orlando Magic: $1,333,333
Toronto Raptors: $1,000,000
Golden State Warriors: $945,126
Los Angeles Clippers: $902,043
Washington Wizards: $833,333
Miami Heat: $350,088
Houston Rockets: $122,741
Boston Celtics: $92,857
Charlotte Hornets: $0
Chicago Bulls: $0
Cleveland Cavaliers: $0
Denver Nuggets: $0
Los Angeles Lakers: $0
New Orleans Pelicans: $0
New York Knicks: $0
Oklahoma City Thunder: $0
Philadelphia 76ers: $0
Phoenix Suns: $0
Utah Jazz: $0

Of the teams with no dead money on their book so far for the 2018/19 season, the Knicks and Suns are the most likely candidates to jump to the upper tier of this list at some point. New York has reportedly been considering waiving and stretching Joakim Noah after September 1, while Phoenix is still expected to buy out Darrell Arthur at some point.

Contract information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post.

Community Shootaround: Super-Teams

August 22nd, 2018 at 8:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

“Super-teams” have been part of the NBA since the league was formed. George Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers were the league’s first dynasty in the early 1950s, followed by Bill Russell’s Celtics, who won 11 titles in 13 years. The Lakers and Celtics dominated the ’80s, the Bulls owned the ’90s, the Lakers and Spurs took over next, then LeBron James went to Miami and Kevin Durant joined the Warriors.

The only decade without a repeat champion was the 1970s, when fan interest reached a low point.

While dominant teams have long been a part of NBA culture, they haven’t been controversial until recent years. That’s probably because the earlier dynasties were built through drafting and trades, while the more recent versions have involved star players deciding they want to team up.

Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post recently spoke to players about the super-team issue and found most accept it as part of the modern NBA.

“If you don’t have a super-team, or three superstars, or three All-Stars on your team, it’s very hard to win,” Wizards point guard John Wall said. Washington has won just three playoff series and hasn’t advanced past the second round since Wall joined the team. The last four years, he watched James lead the Cavaliers to Eastern Conference titles.

Paul George passed up a chance to help build a new super-team in Los Angeles this summer when he opted to re-sign with the Thunder. He hears the criticism from former players who don’t like to see the modern stars aligning, but he says it’s necessary for any of them to have a chance at a ring.

“Who would we be fooling if we went out alone and tried to go up against the Warriors? The best guy in our league right now couldn’t do it,” George said. “[James] got swept [in the 2018 Finals]. So that just goes to show you at this point what it takes to win. Because you need guys that are alike talent-wise and skill set-wise to win championships.”

Proponents of super-teams say they promote fan interest and help create a story line for each season. There’s evidence to support that argument, but there may also be a point where interest fades. Television ratings for the NBA Finals have declined in each of the past three years. After cresting at 11.6 in 2015, they dropped to an average of 11.4, 11.3 and then 10.0 last season when the Warriors’ sweep seemed like a foregone conclusion.

We want to get your opinion. Do super-teams make the league more or less interesting? Is the idea of top free agents conspiring to play together good for the NBA or should the league office take steps to prevent it? Please leave your feedback in the space below.

Poll: Which Team Will Be NBA’s Worst In 2018/19?

August 22nd, 2018 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Suns, who finished with a 21-61 mark, had the NBA’s worst record in 2017/18, finishing just behind the Grizzlies (22-60), Mavericks (24-58), and Hawks (24-58) in the final standings. Having added Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges in the draft, along with Trevor Ariza in free agency, Phoenix has higher hopes for the 2018/19 season, but the club is still projected to be one of the NBA’s worst.

Multiple oddsmakers, including the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook and betting site Bodog.eu, have the Suns’ over/under for wins next season set at 28.5, making them one of the few NBA teams expected to win fewer than 30 games. While that projection may seem pessimistic for a team seemingly on the rise, the competition in the Western Conference will be fierce — in addition to playing the eight playoff teams from last year, the Suns will also have to deal with the Nuggets, Lakers, Mavs, Grizzlies, and Clippers, all of whom have postseason aspirations for 2018/19.

One Western team that probably doesn’t have realistic playoff expectations for next season is the Kings, whose over/under on sports books is generally in the range of 25.5 wins. Sacramento finished ahead of Phoenix in the standings last season, but Marvin Bagley isn’t necessarily expected to make an immediate impact like Ayton is, and the Kings’ free agent additions, including Nemanja Bjelica and Yogi Ferrell, don’t have Ariza’s résumé.

Over in the Eastern Conference, it may not be quite as challenging to pick up wins on a night-to-night basis, but there are still a handful of teams viewed as bottom-feeders, including the Hawks. Atlanta traded away its most productive player from 2017/18 – Dennis Schroder – and rookie Trae Young is unlikely to match Schroder’s production. Other newcomers like Jeremy Lin and Alex Len also aren’t the sort of difference-makers who will increase Atlanta’s win total substantially — oddsmakers have the Hawks’ over/under at just 23.5 wins.

No other team in the East is viewed that unfavorably, but oddsmakers aren’t expecting much from the Bulls (over/under of approximately 28 wins) or the Knicks (29.5 wins), who will be without Kristaps Porzingis for the first part of the season. The Cavaliers, Magic, and Nets are also projected to miss the playoffs, albeit with win totals in the low-30s.

What do you think? Which team will finish the 2018/19 season with the NBA’s worst record? Vote below in our poll and then jump into the comment section to explain your pick.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

How Players Who Declined Options Fared In Free Agency

August 22nd, 2018 at 3:09pm CST by Luke Adams

In 2016 and 2017, the majority of veterans who held player options for the following season decided to turn down those options, preferring to try their luck on the open market, where teams were handing out record-setting contracts.

In 2018, that trend shifted — with little cap room available around the NBA, most vets chose to pick up their player options and take the guaranteed money. In total, 20 of 28 player options for 2018/19 were exercised.

For a handful of the eight players who opted out of their contracts, the decision was easy — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Paul George were at no risk of finding themselves empty-handed on the open market. That wasn’t the case for all eight veterans who turned down their player options though.

Here’s a breakdown of how the eight players who declined options earlier this offseason have fared on the open market:

LeBron James

Player option: $35,607,968 (Cavaliers)
New contract: Four years, $153,312,848 (Lakers)
James’ starting salary with the Lakers is a little higher than what he would have made on his option with the Cavaliers. He’s locked in for $112MM in fully guaranteed money, with a $41MM+ player option for 2021/22.

Paul George

Player option: $20,703,384 (Thunder)
New contract: Four years, $136,911,936 (Thunder)
Like James, George passed on the opportunity to go year-to-year on his new deal in favor of a massive long-term contract. And like James, George will have the opportunity to make another player-option decision in the summer of 2021 — he’ll earn $99MM+ in the first three seasons of his new contract before deciding on a player option worth nearly $38MM.

Kevin Durant

Player option: $26,250,000 (Warriors)
New contract: Two years, $61,500,000 (Warriors)
Durant could have negotiated a longer-term deal, but opted for a small raise on his player-option salary with an eye toward a more lucrative contract in 2019.

DeAndre Jordan

Player option: $24,119,025 (Clippers)
New contract: One year, $22,897,200 (Mavericks)
Jordan will technically earn a slightly lesser salary in 2018/19 than he would have had he opted in with the Clippers, but he was ready to move on from L.A. and can probably live with the slight pay cut. Plus, the lack of income taxes in Texas will help ensure that Jordan’s earnings don’t really decline.

Rudy Gay

Player option: $8,826,300 (Spurs)
New contract: One year, $10,087,200 (Spurs)
Gay’s raise wasn’t substantial, but his decision to opt out ultimately paid off, even if he’ll return to the same team.

Kyle O’Quinn

Player option: $4,256,250 (Knicks)
New contract: One year, $4,449,000 (Pacers)
While O’Quinn didn’t land the sort of payday he likely sought as a free agent, a modest raise and an opportunity to join a winning team still made opting out the right call.

Joffrey Lauvergne

Player option: $1,656,092 (Spurs)
New contract: Two years (Fenerbahce)
Terms of Lauvergne’s new two-year deal with Fenerbahce weren’t reported, so we don’t know how much he’ll make with the Turkish club. His option was only worth the NBA minimum though, and Fenerbahce is one of the most successful teams in the EuroLeague, so I expect he’s coming out ahead.

Jamal Crawford

Player option: $4,544,400 (Timberwolves)
New contract: Still unsigned
Even though Crawford has suggested that finding the right fit is more important than money at this point in his career, it’s still fair to question his option decision, given that he remains without an NBA home. I think he’ll sign somewhere eventually, but I don’t know that he’ll get more than the veteran’s minimum ($2,393,887), which would be worth just over half of his option salary.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Hoops Rumors Originals

2019 NBA Free Agents By Team

August 22nd, 2018 at 1:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors’ up-to-date list of 2019 free agents by team is below. These are players who are eligible for restricted or unrestricted free agency after the 2018/19 season.

This list will continue to be updated throughout the 2019 offseason, up until the start of the 2019/20 season, so be sure to use it and our list of 2019 free agents by position/type as points of reference. Both lists can be found anytime under “Hoops Rumors Features” on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Free Agent Lists” section of our mobile menu.

If you have any corrections or omissions, please contact us.

Updated 10-17-19 (2:04pm CT)

Atlanta Hawks

Alex Poythress (two-way)

Boston Celtics

Jonathan Gibson

Brooklyn Nets

None

NBA Players Who Are Headed Overseas For 2018/19

August 22nd, 2018 at 10:03am CST by Luke Adams

With a new group of incoming rookies arriving in the NBA this season and several players from international leagues also coming stateside, there simply aren’t enough roster spots around the league to accommodate all the players who spent time with NBA clubs last season.

As such, a number of those players are opting to sign with teams in Europe and Asia. Those players may be off the NBA radar for the next little while, but they’ll have the opportunity to carve out more significant roles on international teams, and many of them will be just as well-compensated in the EuroLeague or the Chinese Basketball Association as they would’ve been in the NBA.

We’ve been keeping tabs throughout the summer on the free agents who have decided to sign with international teams after playing in the NBA last season. The list below, using information from our Free Agent Tracker, details this offseason’s notable signings and contract agreements involving NBA free agents heading overseas.

Some of these contract agreements haven’t been made official yet, so we’ll update this list as necessary if any deals fall through. We’ll also add more international signings to the list, as they happen, throughout the rest of the NBA offseason.

China