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Community Shootaround: In-Season Tournament Stakes

November 25th, 2023 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

When the NBA sought to incorporate an in-season tournament into its regular season schedule for the first time, the league needed to answer two important questions about the event. What would make the tournament meaningful for its players, and what would make it meaningful for fans?

The NBA addressed the first question with a fairly simple answer: money. The teams that make the knockout round of the in-season tournament will earn cash prizes, ranging from $50K per player for quarterfinalists to $500K per player for the eventual champion.

It’s not a particularly elegant solution, but it sounds like it has be an effective one. Several players have spoken in recent weeks about the very real incentive that prize money has provided.

And it’s not just young players or minimum-salary veterans that are tantalized by the prospect of a $500K bonus, which might represent a huge portion of their year-end earnings. Even well-compensated stars like Anthony Davis have cited the cash incentive as a motivator that has helped those games feel more meaningful — the Lakers‘ 4-0 record in round robin play suggests that wasn’t just talk.

Still, while the bonus money provides an incentive for the players, most fans aren’t going to celebrate the fact that the guys on their favorite teams are getting an extra pay check. The NBA still needs to ensure the event feels meaningful for the people in the stands and those watching at home.

Finding an appropriate incentive that would appeal to fans as well as to players and teams is tricky. Awarding the winner(s) an extra draft pick was one option said to be discussed, but that would arguably be a disincentive for certain players, who may not want to fight to give their team the right to draft a younger, cheaper prospect who might replace them on the roster. Giving the winner(s) an extra cap exception was a similar idea thrown out there, but that would be a tough sell for casual fans and wouldn’t necessarily benefit teams.

An automatic playoff berth or some level of home-court advantage in the playoffs makes some sense, but the NBA has suggested it wants to keep the tournament separate from its postseason. The league may also risk further devaluing the regular season by locking in a playoff spot or home-court advantage for a team based on a handful of victories in November and December — what if that team falls off a cliff in the second half and finishes with 30 wins?

Ultimately, the NBA decided not to introduce any additional incentives beyond the prize money for players, which has made it difficult for some fans to get too invested in the event in its first year.

Of course, you could argue that a team’s NBA Finals victory doesn’t provide any special incentive to fans beyond the satisfaction of seeing your favorite team succeed on the league’s biggest stage. After all, it’s not as if fans receive cash prizes when their team wins a championship.

But the postseason in the spring is the culmination of an 82-game regular season and has established its importance over the course of the league’s history. It will take some time for an in-season tournament to stake out that sort of inherent meaningfulness — if it ever happens.

We want to know what you think. In order to make the in-season tournament more successful going forward, does the NBA need to introduce some sort of incentive for teams and fans beyond the bonus money for players? Or will the satisfaction of rooting for your favorite team to win games that are perhaps more competitive than typical November and December regular season contests ultimately be enough to make the tournament feel meaningful?

Head to the comment section below to let us know your thoughts!

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Hoops Rumors Glossary: Derrick Rose Rule

November 24th, 2023 at 7:44am CST by Luke Adams

Derrick Rose‘s name doesn’t technically show up at all in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, like Gilbert Arenas, the veteran NBA guard has become an informal namesake of one of the CBA’s rules.

The Rose rule allows a player who is finishing his rookie scale contract to sign a maximum-salary contract that exceeds the typical limit for a player with fewer than seven years of NBA experience. The rule, which was created after Rose won a Most Valuable Player award while playing on his rookie contract, allows young stars to qualify for a maximum salary worth 30% of the salary cap instead of 25%.

Although we colloquially refer to this rule as the Rose rule, it’s technically known in the CBA as the “higher max criteria” for “fifth year eligible” players, since a player has to meet certain performance benchmarks to qualify for the higher maximum salary in his fifth NBA season. A player becomes eligible for the 30% max entering his fifth season when at least one of the following is true:

  • The player was named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons.
  • The player was named Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons.
  • The player was named Most Valuable Player in any of the past three seasons.

A player signing a rookie scale extension can receive the higher Rose rule max as long as his extension covers at least four new years. A player signing a free agent contract can also be eligible for the Rose rule max if he’s coming off his four-year rookie contract — or if he’s a former second-round pick or undrafted free agent with four years of experience, and he’s re-signing with his current team.

This latter scenario almost never arises, since it’s extremely rare for a player who wasn’t drafted in the first round to develop into an All-NBA player within four years. There are rare scenarios in which it might happen — Nikola Jokic, for instance, was a second-round pick who made the All-NBA team in his fourth season. But he had already signed a second contract by that point, having re-upped with the Nuggets as a restricted free agent following his third season.

Of course, just because a player is eligible for a Rose rule extension, that doesn’t mean a team has to offer a starting salary worth the full 30% max. That’s still a matter of negotiation between the player and team, and a starting salary between 25-30% is possible.

Teams and players who agree to a rookie scale extension can also negotiate conditional maximum starting salaries that hinge on the player’s performance in his fourth season, before his extension begins.

For example, a team and player could agree to the following terms:

  • The player’s starting salary will be worth 25% of the cap if he doesn’t make an All-NBA Team in his fourth season.
  • The player’s starting salary will be worth 27% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA Third Team.
  • The player’s starting salary will be worth 28% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA Second Team.
  • The player’s starting salary will be worth 30% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA First Team.

Several players have agreed to this form of Rose rule extension since the rule was implemented in 2017. Devin Booker, Ben Simmons, and Pascal Siakam were among the players whose starting salaries on their rookie scale contracts could have ranged from between 27-30% depending on which All-NBA team they made.

Siakam was voted to the All-NBA Second Team the spring before his rookie scale extension went into effect, securing a starting salary worth 28% of the cap, based on the terms of his Rose rule deal. Simmons’ contract also began at 28% of the cap after he made an All-NBA Third Team that same year. Booker missed out on All-NBA honors ahead of his fourth season, however, so he received a standard 25% max deal.

In recent years, the significant majority of rookie scale extensions that include Rose rule language have been more of a yes or no proposition — a player qualifies for the 30% max with an All-NBA spot, regardless of which team he makes.

That’s reportedly the case for Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and LaMelo Ball, who signed maximum-salary rookie scale extensions this past offseason and would receive a bump to the 30% max by making an All-NBA team in 2024.

While a player can, in some cases, meet the Rose rule performance criteria after he signs his contract, he must meet the criteria before the contract begins. So if Edwards were to miss out on an All-NBA spot in 2024, then earned one in 2025, it would be too late for him to qualify for a Rose rule deal — his maximum-salary contract would start at 25% of the cap in 2024/25 and increase by 8% annually from there.

It’s worth noting that NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement also included the “designated rookie” rule, which was separate from the Rose rule but often applied to Rose rule deals. The designated rookie rule allowed teams to sign players to rookie scale extensions that spanned five new years instead of four. Teams weren’t permitted to carry more than two designated rookies at a time, including no more than one who was acquired via trade.

However, the latest CBA eliminated the designated rookie rule, allowing all rookie scale extensions to cover up to five new years and placing no restrictions on how many of those players those teams are permitted to carry or acquire. The Rose rule is now the only one governing deviations from the norm for rookie scale extensions.

Finally, a player with between seven and nine years of experience can qualify for a maximum salary worth 35% of the cap instead of 30% by meeting similar criteria, but that’s related to the designated veteran rule rather than the Rose rule. We cover that subject in a separate glossary entry.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier variations of this post were published in 2013 and 2018 by Chuck Myron and Luke Adams.

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Community Shootaround: NBA Coaches On Hot Seat?

November 22nd, 2023 at 10:21am CST by Luke Adams

It’s rare for an NBA team to make a head coaching change this early in the season, but it’s not unheard of. Just last fall, for instance, the Nets parted ways with Steve Nash only seven games into the regular season. The league’s reigning Coach of the Year, Mike Brown, was once let go by the Lakers a mere five games into a season.

That doesn’t mean that we should expect a head coaching change in the coming days or weeks, but it’s extremely rare to get through an entire NBA season without at least some overhaul in the coaching ranks. So it’s likely just a matter of time until at least one team decides to pull the trigger and make a change.

The NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches – such as Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, and Steve Kerr – won’t be fired, and it’s probably safe to assume that all the coaches who have been hired within the last year are safe as well, barring some unexpected non-basketball development. Eliminating those two groups significantly reduces our list of coaches who might be on the hot seat.

From there, we can cross off several more coaches whose teams are off to strong starts this season. That group includes guys like Chris Finch, Mark Daigneault, Jason Kidd, and Jamahl Mosley, among several others. And we can eliminate at least a couple more coaches whose clubs have given them strong votes of confidence as of late — for instance, the Clippers refused to let interested teams talk to Tyronn Lue this past offseason.

Who does that leave? Well, let’s start with Billy Donovan. He was named by at least one sportsbook in the preseason as the head coach most likely to be fired first, and the Bulls‘ performance so far this season hasn’t done much to quiet those rumors. Zach LaVine and other Chicago players have been the subject of trade rumors, but when a team is underachieving, it’s often the coach who is replaced before the players are.

J.B. Bickerstaff‘s Cavaliers and Willie Green‘s Pelicans have been up and down to start the season, but both teams have been hit hard by injuries and have still held their own in the playoff race. Their seats might start getting hotter if they don’t make any sort of postseason run this spring, but for now, they should be fine. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn falls into this category too, with expectations in Brooklyn a little lower than they are in Cleveland or New Orleans.

Chauncey Billups, Will Hardy, and Wes Unseld Jr. are among the coaches whose teams already look like strong bets to end up in the lottery, but those clubs weren’t expected to make the playoffs this season anyway, so their management groups likely won’t be in any hurry to make changes. Unseld is the lone potential exception since he was hired by a previous front office regime, but a recent report suggested his job isn’t in any immediate danger.

Taylor Jenkins and Steve Clifford are perhaps worth keeping a closer eye on, since the Grizzlies and Hornets have won a combined seven games so far this season despite entering the season with playoff aspirations. But those are two more teams who have been significantly impacted by player absences and who probably can’t be realistically judged until their groups are more whole.

Jenkins, in particular, has several strong seasons under his belt and was expected to ultimately be judged on his team’s playoff success. If Memphis’ roster is too depleted to even make the postseason, it’ll probably be hard to put that on Jenkins.

For now, then, Donovan may be the only head coach whose seat looks truly hot, though there are certainly other coaches who could join him if their teams experienced prolonged slumps.

What do you think? Is Donovan the coach whose job is in the most jeopardy in the short term? Are there others you think could be replaced before season’s end?

Head to the comment section below to share your two cents!

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Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Projections For 2024/25

November 20th, 2023 at 10:51am CST by Luke Adams

The mid-level exception and bi-annual exception are the two key tools that an over-the-cap team typically has at its disposal to sign free agents from other clubs — or to re-sign one of its own free agents, if the player’s Bird rights aren’t available or sufficient.

The year-to-year value of mid-level and bi-annual exceptions – along with several other cap-related figures and exceptions – is dependent on the movement of the salary cap. If the cap increases by 5% from one league year to the next, the exceptions increase by the same rate.

As such, we don’t know yet exactly what those exceptions will be worth in 2024/25, but we can make an educated estimate. The NBA’s most recent projection for ’24/25 called for a cap of $141,000,000, which is the number we’ll use to project next season’s mid-level and bi-annual exceptions.

[RELATED: Maximum Salary Projections For 2024/25]

[RELATED: Minimum Salary Projections For 2024/25]

Based on a $141,000,000 cap, here’s what the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions would look like in 2024/25:

Mid-Level Exception

Year Standard MLE
 Taxpayer MLE Room MLE
2024/25 $12,859,000 $5,183,000 $8,006,000
2025/26 $13,501,950 $5,442,150 $8,406,300
2026/27 $14,144,900 $8,806,600
2027/28 $14,787,850 – –
Total $55,293,700 $10,625,150 $25,218,900

The standard mid-level exception is available to over-the-cap teams that haven’t dipped below the cap to use room and whose team salary remains below the first tax apron. It can run for up to four years, with 5% annual raises. Once a team uses the standard/non-taxpayer MLE, that team is hard-capped at the first tax apron for the rest of the league year.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Mid-Level Exception]

The taxpayer mid-level exception is for a team whose salary is between the first and second tax aprons, or teams that want the flexibility to surpass the first apron later. It can run for up to two years, with 5% annual raises. Once a team uses the taxpayer MLE, that team is hard-capped at the second tax apron for the rest of the league year.

The room exception is for teams that go under the cap and use their space. Once they’ve used all their cap room, they can use this version of the mid-level exception, which runs for up to three years with 5% annual raises.

Beginning in the 2024 offseason, teams will be able to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or the room exception – but not the taxpayer MLE – to acquire a player via trade.

If the cap increases by the maximum amount of 10%, as it has in each of the past two seasons, the non-taxpayer mid-level would start at around $13.65MM, the taxpayer MLE would be worth $5.5MM, and the room exception would be worth approximately $8.5MM.

Bi-Annual Exception

Year BAE Value
2024/25 $4,681,000
2025/26 $4,915,050
Total $9,596,050

The bi-annual exception – which can be used for contracts up to two years, with a 5% raise after year one – is only available to teams that are over the cap and below the first tax apron.

It can also only be used once every two years, which will disqualify the Cavaliers, Lakers, and Raptors from using it in 2024/25 — Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Toronto are the only teams to use their BAEs in 2023/24.

A maximum 10% cap increase would result in a bi-annual exception that starts at about $4.97MM in ’24/25.

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Community Shootaround: Early Season Surprises

November 19th, 2023 at 6:43pm CST by Tristan Tucker

For the most part, it’s easy to tell who the NBA’s contenders and bottom-feeders are before the season. Similarly, fans can usually predict what a large part of a team’s given rotation is going to look like. But every year, there are several instances of unexpected players and teams breaking out or disappointing.

This season is no different and, through the first portion of the season, there are already some surprising trends and storylines.

In my view, the most disappointing start to the season for any team has to be the Grizzlies. Teams like the Pistons, Wizards, Spurs and Trail Blazers were expected to trend toward the bottom of the standings with young cores and growing pains. But the Grizzlies were the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference last year and acquired former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart. Of course, Memphis has been dealt an incredibly difficult hand with the 25-game suspension of Ja Morant and injuries to Brandon Clarke, Steven Adams and Smart, along with many more, and any team would be hard-pressed to overcome that.

Seasons are all about hot and cold streaks, and both the Clippers and Warriors are going through slumps after respective strong starts to the year. The Clippers began the year 3-1 and have gone 1-6 since acquiring James Harden, including losing six straight. The Warriors began the year 6-2 but have now also lost six in a row. I didn’t anticipate there to be as many growing pains with the Clippers and Harden from the jump, but I still expect they’ll get into form.

Not all surprises are bad though, and there have been plenty of pleasant ones to begin this year. The Timberwolves share the top spot in the west with the defending-champion Nuggets, which is eye-popping at first until you consider their elite defensive play and Anthony Edwards‘ unsurprising breakout.

The Rockets and Thunder look well ahead of the development curve, and hold two of the top six spots in the west. Chet Holmgren immediately looks like a star in his first NBA season for Oklahoma City while the Rockets have been aided by the additions of their veteran players and coach Ime Udoka.

For my money, the most surprising early season development is Dereck Lively II‘s immediate importance to the 9-4 Mavericks. In his one season at Duke, Lively averaged just 20.6 minutes per game, though his role grew exponentially as the year went on. Still, when Dallas drafted him, I expected the franchise to bring him along slowly and allow him to get adjusted to the NBA.

Instead, Lively surged to the top of the depth chart, taking a choke-hold on the starting center position at just 19 years old. He’s averaging 8.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 stocks (steals plus blocks) in his first 12 games. His rise to the top has opened up so many things for the Mavs’ offense and Lively is a huge part of what looks like a top dog in the conference.

That brings us to our topic of the day: What early season trends have most surprised you the most? Do you agree with any of our choices? What players and teams have most exceeded or fallen short of expectations?

Take to the comments to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to reading your input.

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NBA Maximum Salary Projections For 2024/25

November 19th, 2023 at 8:34am CST by Luke Adams

Although a number of big-money free agent contracts were completed over the summer, the most lucrative deals signed by players so far in 2023/24 have been contract extensions. And many of those extensions have been maximum-salary deals.

[RELATED: 2023/24 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

Because those extensions won’t go into effect until at least the 2024/25 season and the NBA won’t finalize the ’24/25 salary cap until next summer, we can only ballpark what many of year’s maximum-salary contracts will look like based on the league’s latest cap estimates.

The NBA’s most recent projection for ’24/25 called for a $141,000,000 cap, which is the number we’ll use to project next season’s maximum salaries.

Listed below are the early maximum-salary projections for 2024/25. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous club 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. Unless they qualify for a more lucrative extension by meeting certain performance criteria, players with no more than six years of NBA experience are limited to a starting salary worth up to 25% of the cap. For players with seven to nine years of experience, that number is 30%. For players with 10 or more years of experience, it’s 35%.

Here are the the early max-salary projections for 2024/25:

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
2024/25 $35,250,000 $42,300,000 $49,350,000
2025/26 $38,070,000 $45,684,000 $53,298,000
2026/27 $40,890,000 $49,068,000 $57,246,000
2027/28 $43,710,000 $52,452,000 $61,194,000
2028/29 $46,530,000 $55,836,000 $65,142,000
Total $204,450,000 $245,340,000 $286,230,000

The “6 years or less” column here is what the new extensions for Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and LaMelo Ball will look like if none of them make an All-NBA team in 2024. All three players have Rose Rule language in their contracts, however, and could move up to the 30% max column (“7-9 years”) if certain criteria are met.

The 30% max column will also apply to players who reach the free agent market next summer with between seven and nine years of NBA experience under their belts. That would be Pascal Siakam‘s maximum contract with the Pacers, for instance.

The third column (35%) will apply to the super-max extension signed by Celtics star Jaylen Brown. Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns also previously signed super-max extensions that will begin in 2024/25, though those deals are for four years, so they’ll be worth a projected $221,088,000 instead of the projected $286MM+ that Brown will earn over five seasons.

It’s worth noting that when many of these contracts were signed, their projected values were initially reported based on a 10% cap increase rather than a 3.7% bump, since the estimates were coming from agents and represented best-case scenarios.

Ten percent would be the maximum allowable increase and it’s not out of the question that will happen — the NBA’s cap has risen by 10% in each of the past two summers. In that scenario, the maximum total value of these contracts would increase to approximately $217MM (25% of the cap), $260MM (30%), and $304MM (35%), respectively.

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

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2024/25 $35,250,000 $42,300,000 $49,350,000
2025/26 $37,012,500 $44,415,000 $51,817,500
2026/27 $38,775,000 $46,530,000 $54,285,000
2027/28 $40,537,500 $48,645,000 $56,752,500
Total $151,575,000 $181,890,000 $212,205,000

If a player changes teams as a free agent, he doesn’t have access to a fifth year or 8% raises. So if someone like Tyrese Maxey were to sign an offer sheet with a new team next summer, he’d be limited to a four-year deal projected to be worth approximately $151.6MM.

If a veteran free agent with between seven and nine years of NBA experience – such as Siakam – wants to change teams in 2023, he would be able to sign a four-year contract worth up to a projected $181.9MM.

Paul George, Klay Thompson, or another veteran with 10+ years of experience would be able to earn up to $212.2MM across four years if they change teams as free agents in 2024. While it’s unlikely that George, Thompson, or any other 10-year veteran changes teams and signs a four-year, maximum-salary deal next offseason, it could theoretically be the first time in NBA history that a player receives a $200MM+ contract while changing teams.

Again, a 10% cap jump rather than a 3.7% increase would push these figures higher. In that scenario, a 25% max contract would be worth nearly $161MM, a 30% deal would be worth about $193MM, and a 35% contract would work out to approximately $225MM.

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2023/24 NBA Disabled Player Exceptions

November 17th, 2023 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

A disabled player exception can be granted when an NBA team has a player go down with an injury deemed to be season-ending. The exception gives the club some additional spending flexibility, functioning almost as a cross between a traded player exception and a mid-level exception.

We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE gives a team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.

Because the rules related to disable player exceptions are somewhat restrictive and the exceptions themselves generally aren’t worth a lot, they often simply expire without being used. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on which disabled player exceptions have been granted, just in case.

We’ll use this space to break down the teams with disabled player exceptions available for the 2023/24 league year, updating it as the season progresses if more teams are granted DPEs and/or to indicate which ones have been used.

Teams have until January 15 to apply for a disabled player exception and until March 11 to actually use them (the typical deadline is March 10, but it gets pushed to the next business day when March 10 falls on a weekend).

Here’s the list so far:

Available disabled player exceptions:

After missing half of the 2021/22 season and all of ’22/23, Ball still wasn’t ready to play this fall. The point guard, who has undergone multiple procedures in an attempt to address his knee problems, received a cartilage transplant surgery in March, and head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas told reporters in June that he didn’t expect Ball to be available for the 2023/24 campaign.

Because Ball’s salary this season is $20,465,117, Chicago received a disabled player exception worth half of that amount: approximately $10.23MM. That’s a sizable exception, the largest one the Bulls hold after having used about half of their mid-level exception to sign Jevon Carter.

However, Chicago’s team salary isn’t far below the luxury tax line — the team actually needed to waive its 15th man before the season began in order to sneak below the tax threshold.

Ownership hasn’t shown any inclination to become a taxpayer in recent years, especially for a roster that isn’t a championship contender. There’s no reason to expect that to change this season, so if the Bulls use their DPE, it’ll probably be in a trade where they’re also sending out some salary and staying out of tax territory.

One of the players Portland acquired from Boston in the Jrue Holiday trade, Williams saw his poor injury luck continue in 2023/24, as he was forced to undergo season-ending knee surgery less than a month into his first season as a Trail Blazer.

Williams’ deal includes some incentives, but his base salary is $11,571,429, so the Blazers’ disabled player exception is worth half of that amount.

Portland is armed with several cap exceptions, including the full mid-level exception and four trade exceptions (two of which are worth $8.3MM or more). The Blazers’ team salary is also just $3.5MM below the luxury tax line, so it seems unlikely that they’ll actually need to use their DPE. Still, it’s another tool they’ll have available as they consider in-season trades to aid their rebuild.

Bassey’s season came to an early end in December when he tore his left ACL. He had been playing a limited role in San Antonio and actually sustained the injury while he was in the G League with the Austin Spurs.

Bassey’s salary this season was just $2.6MM, so the Spurs’ disabled player exception is modest and likely won’t be much use on the trade market — the only potential trade targets whose salaries would fit into that exception are rookies, and rookies generally aren’t on expiring (one-year) deals.

Used disabled player exceptions:

Morant’s season came to an early end when he underwent surgery to address a labral tear in his right shoulder. The injury occurred a little before the January 15 deadline to apply for a disabled player exception, allowing the Grizzlies to apply for a second DPE after having already been granted one earlier in the season.

The Morant DPE was worth $12.4MM (the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception), since that amount is lesser than half of his $34MM salary.

The Grizzlies used that exception in a trade with the Rockets in order to take on Victor Oladipo‘s $9.45MM expiring contract. Memphis sent out Steven Adams in the deal, generating a new $12.6MM trade exception for his outgoing salary.

Unavailable disabled player exceptions:

A knee injury sidelined Adams for the final few months of the 2022/23 season, but the expectation was that he’d be ready to return this fall following a lengthy non-surgical rehab process.

Unfortunately, that non-surgical plan failed to address the instability issues in Adams’ knee, according to the Grizzlies, who announced that the veteran center would undergo a procedure on his right posterior cruciate ligament that would keep him on the shelf for all of ’23/24.

The Grizzlies were granted a disabled player exception worth half of Adams’ $12.6MM salary, but they forfeited that DPE when they sent the big man to Houston in the pre-deadline trade detailed above. Teams aren’t permitted to use a disabled player exception if the injured player is no longer on the roster.

Pending disabled player exception requests:

Denied disabled player exception requests:

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14 Players Affected By Poison Pill Provision In 2023/24

November 15th, 2023 at 6:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The term “poison pill” doesn’t actually show up in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, but it’s used colloquially to refer to a provision in the CBA that affects players who recently signed rookie scale contract extensions.

As we explain in our glossary entry, the so-called poison pill provision applies when a player who signed a rookie scale extension is traded before the extension takes effect.

In that scenario, the player’s incoming value for the receiving team for matching purposes is determined by averaging his current-year salary and the salaries in each year of his new extension. His current team, on the other hand, simply treats his current-year salary as the outgoing figure for matching purposes.

For instance, Spurs wing Devin Vassell is earning a $5,887,899 salary in 2023/24, but signed a five-year, $135MM extension that will begin in ’24/25.

Therefore, if San Antonio wanted to trade Vassell this season, his outgoing value for salary-matching purposes would be $5,887,899 (this year’s salary), while his incoming value for the team acquiring him would be $23,481,317 (this year’s salary, plus the $135MM extension, divided by six years).

[RELATED: 2023 NBA Rookie Scale Extension Recap]

Most of the players who signed rookie scale extensions aren’t realistic candidates to be traded anytime soon. But even in the event that a team does want to look into trading one of these recently extended players, the gap between the player’s incoming trade value and outgoing trade value could make it a real challenge to find a deal that works for both sides.

The “poison pill” provision applies to 14 players who signed rookie scale extensions in 2023. Here are those players, along with their outgoing salaries and incoming salaries for trade purposes:

Player Team Outgoing trade value Incoming trade value
Anthony Edwards MIN $13,534,817 $36,573,920
LaMelo Ball CHA $10,900,635 $36,134,889
Tyrese Haliburton IND $5,808,435 $35,286,189
Desmond Bane MEM $3,845,083 $33,512,589
Devin Vassell SAS $5,887,899 $23,481,317
Jaden McDaniels MIN $3,901,399 $22,483,567
Onyeka Okongwu ATL $8,109,063 $14,021,813
Isaiah Stewart DET $5,266,713 $13,053,343
Deni Avdija WSH $6,263,188 $12,252,638
Josh Green DAL $4,765,339 $11,441,335
Cole Anthony ORL $5,539,771 $11,159,943
Aaron Nesmith IND $5,634,257 $9,658,564
Zeke Nnaji DEN $4,306,281 $7,261,256
Payton Pritchard BOS $4,037,278 $6,807,456

Once the 2024/25 league year begins next July, the poison pill provision will no longer apply to these players. At that time, the player’s ’24/25 salary would represent both his outgoing and incoming value.

Until then though, the gap between those outgoing and incoming figures will make it tricky for several of these players to be moved, though it affects some more significantly than others.

The small difference between Pritchard’s incoming and outgoing trade figures, for instance, likely wouldn’t be very problematic if the Celtics decide to trade him. But the much larger divide between Bane’s incoming and outgoing numbers means there’s virtually no chance he could be dealt to an over-the-cap team in 2023/24 — given that the Grizzlies have no desire to move Bane, that’ll be a moot point, but it’s still worth noting.

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Largest Trade Exceptions Available This Season

November 10th, 2023 at 2:38pm CST by Luke Adams

As the NBA’s 2024 trade deadline approaches, it’s worth keeping in mind which teams hold traded player exceptions that could come in handy to grease the wheels on an in-season deal.

As we explain in our glossary, a traded player exception allows a team to take on salary in a trade without sending out any salary in return. The amount of the exception (plus $250K) is the amount of salary the team is permitted to take back without salary-matching – either in a single deal or in multiple trades – for one year.

[RELATED: Salary-Matching Rules For Trades During 2023/24 Season]

For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception could acquire a player earning $4MM and a player earning $6.25MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.

In recent years, sizable traded player exceptions have served as wild cards that helped accommodate both pre-deadline and offseason deals. For example, after creating a $17MM trade exception when they sent Davis Bertans to the Thunder and moved down a couple spots in the 2023 draft lottery, the Mavericks used that TPE to acquire Richaun Holmes along with an additional first-round pick later in the night.

Many trade exceptions expire without being used, but as our tracker shows, there are many sizable ones available this season that could be useful when trade season begins in earnest.

Here are the 20 most valuable trade exceptions around the NBA for now, along with their expiry dates in parentheses:

  1. Atlanta Hawks: $23,019,560 (7/8/24)
  2. Brooklyn Nets: $19,928,571 (7/8/24)
  3. Brooklyn Nets: $18,131,946 (2/9/24)
  4. Washington Wizards: $12,354,400 (6/24/24)
  5. Washington Wizards: $9,800,926 (7/8/24)
  6. Miami Heat: $9,450,000 (7/8/24)
  7. Portland Trail Blazers: $8,778,377 (9/27/24)
  8. Portland Trail Blazers: $8,300,000 (2/9/24)
  9. Memphis Grizzlies: $7,492,540 (7/8/24)
  10. Miami Heat: $7,243,842 (7/8/24)
  11. Philadelphia 76ers: $6,831,413 (11/1/24)
  12. New York Knicks: $6,803,012 (7/8/24)
  13. Brooklyn Nets: $6,802,950 (7/8/24)
  14. Phoenix Suns: $6,500,000 (7/17/24)
  15. Boston Celtics: $6,202,500 (7/12/24)
  16. Washington Wizards: $5,379,250 (6/24/24)
  17. Phoenix Suns: $4,975,371 (2/9/24)
  18. Dallas Mavericks: $4,953,980 (7/8/24)
  19. Miami Heat: $4,700,000 (2/7/24)
  20. Houston Rockets: $4,510,000 (10/17/24)

Those Hawks and Nets trade exceptions are big enough to be genuine assets, but I wouldn’t expect either club to make full use of them during the season. Both Atlanta and Brooklyn are about $8-10MM away from the luxury tax line and would move even closer to becoming taxpayers if certain players on their rosters earn bonuses currently considered unlikely.

Neither team is close enough to title contention to warrant becoming a taxpayer this season unless it’s for a major, major acquisition, so don’t count on either the Hawks or Nets using a TPE to bring in a $15MM role player with no outgoing salary.

The luxury tax looms as an issue for some of the other teams on this list as well, but there are some intriguing TPEs to keep an eye on. Would-be contenders like the Sixers, Celtics, and Suns may consider using their exceptions to try to fortify their benches ahead of the postseason, while a rebuilding team like the Wizards – with nearly $30MM in breathing room below the tax – could be a dumping ground for an unwanted contract — as long as that contract comes attached to a draft asset or two.

Teams like the Lakers and Pelicans, who are just narrowly over the tax threshold and could duck below by trading a single player, are potential trade partners to watch for Washington.

It’s worth noting that some of these exceptions may be used in a deal that could otherwise be completed using salary matching. For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception that swaps one $8MM player for another could use the exception to take on the incoming player and create a new $8MM exception using the outgoing player.

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NBA G League Affiliate Players For 2023/24

November 10th, 2023 at 7:49am CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the offseason and preseason, NBA teams are permitted to carry 21 players, but that number must be reduced to 15 (plus three two-way players) in advance of opening night. However, up to four players waived by teams prior to the season can be designated as “affiliate players” and assigned to their G League squads.

As we explain in more detail in our glossary entry on the subject, if a player’s NBA team has designated him as an affiliate player and he signs a G League contract, he is automatically assigned to that team’s NBAGL roster.

Of the G League’s 31 teams, 29 are directly affiliated with an NBA club. Only the Mexico City Capitanes and G League Ignite are unaffiliated, while the Suns are the lone NBA franchise that doesn’t control a G League team.

Here are the affiliate players for those 29 squads to open the 2023/24 season, which tips off on Friday:

Austin Spurs (Spurs)

Birmingham Squadron (Pelicans)

Capital City Go-Go (Wizards)

Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers)

College Park Skyhawks (Hawks)

Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)

Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets)

Greensboro Swarm (Hornets)

Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers)

Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves)

Long Island Nets (Nets)

Maine Celtics (Celtics)

Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)

Motor City Cruise (Pistons)

Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)

Ontario Clippers (Clippers)

Osceola Magic (Magic)

Raptors 905 (Raptors)

Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets)

Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers)

Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)

Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)

Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat)

South Bay Lakers (Lakers)

Stockton Kings (Kings)

Texas Legends (Mavericks)

Westchester Knicks (Knicks)

Windy City Bulls (Bulls)

Wisconsin Herd (Bucks)

In addition to these “affiliate players,” G League teams have the ability to fill out their rosters with the following types of players:

  • Returning rights: Players whose G League rights were already held by the team from a previous season (or were acquired in a trade from another NBAGL team).
  • G League draft rights: Players who were selected in this season’s G League draft.
  • NBA draft rights: Players who were drafted by an NBA team and signed a G League contract instead of an NBA contract.
  • Local tryout: Players who earned a shot via a local tryout.
  • G League player pool: Players who signed G League contracts and went undrafted (or signed their contracts after the draft). Newly signed players go through a waiver process and enter the league’s free agent pool if they go unclaimed.
  • Two-way contract: Players who are on a two-way contract with an NBA team and have been transferred to the G League.
  • NBA assignment: Players who are on a standard contract with an NBA team and have been assigned to the G League.
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