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2022 NBA Head Coaching Carousel Recap

August 17th, 2022 at 10:46am CST by Luke Adams

Over the last couple months, NBA teams have been overhauling their rosters, signing free agents, making trades, and locking up their draft picks to contracts. Prior to the draft and free agency though, a handful of teams completed another major offseason change that shouldn’t be overlooked — four NBA clubs named a new head coach.

Here’s a recap of this offseason’s head coaching changes and a brief look at how they played out:

Charlotte Hornets

  • Hired: Steve Clifford (story)
  • Replaced: James Borrego (story)
  • Contract details: Three-year deal (two guaranteed seasons, third-year team option)
  • Other candidates who reportedly interviewed or received consideration: Kenny Atkinson, Mike D’Antoni, Darvin Ham, Charles Lee, Terry Stotts, Sean Sweeney, David Vanterpool, Frank Vogel

While it didn’t receive as much fanfare as some of this spring’s other head coaching searches, the Hornets’ hiring process was easily the most eventful of the bunch. After dismissing Borrego due to Charlotte’s defensive shortcomings and a failure to make its first and only play-in game competitive in either of the last two seasons, the team embarked on a hunt for an experienced replacement.

Atkinson, D’Antoni, and Stotts were reported to be finalists, with the decision coming down to Atkinson and D’Antoni. The Hornets offered Atkinson the job and he accepted, but eight days later, word broke that he had reneged on the agreement between the two sides, sending Charlotte back to square one.

Rather than returning to D’Antoni or Stotts, the Hornets pivoted in another direction, opting for a reunion with Clifford, who coached the club from 2013-18.

By hiring not just a former NBA head coach but one who coached the Hornets only four years ago, the organization certainly opened itself up to criticism for going the “retread” route. But Clifford had more success in his five seasons in Charlotte than any other head coach has in recent team history. Since reentering the NBA in 2004, Charlotte has made the playoffs just three times since then, and two of those postseason berths came during Clifford’s tenure.

Los Angeles Lakers

  • Hired: Darvin Ham (story)
  • Replaced: Frank Vogel (story)
  • Contract details: Four-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly interviewed or received consideration: Kenny Atkinson, Adrian Griffin, Mark Jackson, Charles Lee, Terry Stotts

Vogel’s firing had been rumored since the first half of the 2021/22 season, so it came as no surprise when he was quickly let go following the end of the regular season. He led the Lakers to a championship less than two years ago, but the team’s 33-49 showing in ’21/22 was so disappointing that he became an obvious fall guy.

The Lakers were linked to a number of high-profile candidates during their search – they reportedly had interest in Nick Nurse, Doc Rivers, Quin Snyder, and Juwan Howard – but eventually focused on a handful of more realistic options.. They narrowed their finalists to Ham, Stotts, and Atkinson, then chose Ham, the only one of the three without any prior head coaching experience.

A veteran assistant who was on the Lakers’ staff from 2011-13 and then plied his trade under Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta and Milwaukee, Ham should bring a fresh perspective to a roster that didn’t mesh well last season. L.A. will be hoping he can make the same sort of immediate impact that former players and first-time head coaches Ime Udoka and Willie Green did last season in Boston and New Orleans, respectively.

Sacramento Kings

  • Hired: Mike Brown (story)
  • Replaced: Alvin Gentry (story)
  • Contract details: Four-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly interviewed or received consideration: Steve Clifford, Mike D’Antoni, Darvin Ham, Will Hardy, Mark Jackson, Charles Lee

Gentry, who replaced Luke Walton during the first half of the 2021/22 season, previously stuck around following interim stints in Detroit and Phoenix to become those teams’ permanent head coaches. But after leading the Kings to an underwhelming 24-41 record to close out the season, he was unable to replicate that feat in Sacramento.

One report early in the Kings’ search process indicated they were seeking out a candidate who had experience turning a lottery team into a playoff club and who could improve Sacramento’s defense. The team ultimately landed on Brown, who achieved the first of those requirements in Cleveland and has a reputation as a defensive-minded coach.

Brown’s previous head coaching stints have been a mixed bag. He led the Cavs to an outstanding 272-138 (.663) regular season record from 2005-10, but the team only made two deep playoff runs during that time — once to the Eastern Finals and once to the NBA Finals. He then had brief stints with the Lakers (71 games) and Cavs again (82 games) before serving as an assistant in Golden State for several years.

His time spent honing his coaching skills as part of the Warriors’ championship teams will be put to the test in Sacramento, where he’ll be tasked with getting the Kings back to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Utah Jazz

  • Hired: Will Hardy (story)
  • Replaced: Quin Synder (story)
  • Contract details: Five-year deal
  • Other candidates who reportedly interviewed or received consideration: Jerome Allen, Johnnie Bryant, Sam Cassell, Adrian Griffin, Alex Jensen, Charles Lee, Joe Mazzulla, Chris Quinn, Lamar Skeeter, Terry Stotts, Sean Sweeney, Jason Terry, Frank Vogel, Kevin Young

Speculation about Snyder’s future began well before the Jazz were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, but he didn’t formally step down until June 5, over a month after Utah’s season came to an end.

Getting a late start on their coaching search didn’t dissuade the Jazz from exercising a patient approach and casting a wide net. Danny Ainge and Justin Zanik interviewed 14 candidates for the position, reportedly focusing on coaches who were highly regarded for their player development skills and defensive acumen.

Utah’s eventual choice was an interesting one. Hardy came from Ainge’s old team in Boston, though the two didn’t overlap at all — Hardy only joined the Celtics’ coaching staff in 2021 after serving as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio for several years.

The 34-year-old Hardy becomes the NBA’s youngest active head coach and received a five-year contract, the longest deal of any of this year’s new head coaches. The long-term agreement signals the Jazz have confidence in him to lead the team for years to come, even – or perhaps especially – if they pivot to a rebuild by trading not only Rudy Gobert but Donovan Mitchell.

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Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Projections For 2023/24

August 15th, 2022 at 10:02am CST by Luke Adams

Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the values of various salary cap exceptions like the mid-level and bi-annual were established years in advance, but the league’s current CBA tweaked how those exceptions are calculated.

Rather than being determined ahead of time, the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions – along with several other cap-related figures and exceptions – are dependent on the movement of the salary cap from year to year. 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 2023/24, but we can make an educated estimate. When the NBA updated its salary cap estimates on June 1, the league projected a $136MM cap for the ’23/24 season. That’d be a 9.98% increase on this year’s $123,655,000 cap. We’ll round up to the maximum allowable 10% and assume the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions would also increase by 10%.

[RELATED: Maximum Salary Projections For 2023/24]

This season’s projections are further complicated by the fact that the new CBA calls for an additional increase of 7.5% to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and a one-time 30% bump to the room exception. Meanwhile, the taxpayer mid-level exception has been reduced to a flat $5MM.

Based on a $136,021,000 cap, here’s what the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions would look like in 2023/24:

Mid-Level Exception

Year Standard MLE
 Taxpayer MLE Room MLE
2023/24 $12,405,000 $5,000,000 $7,723,000
2024/25 $13,025,250 $5,250,000 $8,109,150
2025/26 $13,645,500 $8,495,300
2026/27 $14,265,750 – –
Total $53,341,500 $10,250,000 $24,327,450

The standard mid-level exception is available to over-the-cap teams that haven’t dipped below the cap to use room and don’t go over the 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 tax apron for the rest of the league year.

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

The taxpayer mid-level exception is for in-the-tax teams, or teams that want the flexibility to surpass the tax apron later. It can run for up to two years, with 5% annual raises.

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.

Bi-Annual Exception

Year BAE Value
2023/24 $4,516,000
2024/25 $4,741,800
Total $9,257,800

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 under the tax apron.

It can also only be used once every two years, which will disqualify the Sixers and Heat from using it in 2023/24 — Philadelphia and Miami are the only teams to use their BAEs in 2022/23.

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Hoops Rumors’ 2022 NBA Free Agent Tracker

August 15th, 2022 at 9:28am CST by Luke Adams

We’re now a month-and-a-half into the 2022 free agent period, and all but one of the NBA’s 30 teams have signed at least one free agent (the Pelicans are the only one that hasn’t). With training camps set to tip off next month, 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 be based on what’s been reported to date, so in some cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
  • Players who have reportedly agreed to training camp/Exhibit 10 deals won’t be added to the tracker until those deals become official.
  • 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 any confusion.
  • If you’re viewing the tracker on our mobile site, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2022 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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Community Shootaround: Best Free Agent Value Signings

August 15th, 2022 at 7:56am CST by Luke Adams

After taking a closer look last week at the most lucrative multiyear contracts signed during the NBA’s 2022 free agent period, we’re focusing today on some deals that may have flown more under the radar. These are the contracts that came in around the cost of the mid-level exception – or below it – and represent good values for the teams that signed them.

[RELATED: 2022 NBA Free Agent Tracker]

The Heat only held Non-Bird rights on Caleb Martin entering the offseason, which limited their ability to offer him much of a raise on last year’s minimum salary. However, Miami decided to use the full taxpayer portion of its mid-level exception to bring back Martin, determining that money was better spent on him than any outside free agent who would’ve signed at that price. I liked that three-year, $20.4MM deal for the Heat, as it allowed them to lock up an emerging wing who shot 41.3% on three-pointers and played versatile defense.

Kyle Anderson‘s two-year, $18MM contract with the Timberwolves was another mid-level signing I liked, since Anderson is the type of player who can help a team in a variety of ways on both ends of the court. He’s a solid defender and rebounder who can be a secondary ball-handler and play-maker on offense and has improved his three-point shooting in recent years (35.1% over the last two seasons). He’s a good complementary piece for a Wolves team that will have two or three ball-dominant scorers.

I thought Bruce Brown was a steal a year ago for the Nets when he signed a one-year contract worth $4.7MM and was surprised that he didn’t get much of a raise this year — he’ll fit in nicely as a Swiss Army knife-type player on a Nuggets team that was able to lock him up on a two-year, $13.3MM pact (the second year is a player option).

The Warriors lost some key bench pieces in free agency this summer, but did well to land Donte DiVincenzo (two years, $9.2MM; second-year player option) and JaMychal Green (one year, minimum salary) without breaking the bank. Both veterans are coming off down years, but have shown in previous seasons that they can be starter-caliber players.

Aaron Holiday (Hawks), Damian Jones (Lakers), T.J. Warren (Nets), and Robin Lopez (Cavaliers) are some of the other minimum-salary signings I liked.

What do you think? Which free agent signings do you think were this summer’s best bargains and will provide the most value going forward?

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Community Shootaround: Christmas Day Games

August 13th, 2022 at 10:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Although not much is known about the 2022/23 schedule, two Christmas Day games have already been leaked. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Lakers are expected to visit the Mavericks for the holiday and the Warriors will host the Grizzlies.

All four teams are natural selections for the Christmas showcase, considering their popularity and talent level. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry and Ja Morant should all be good for holiday ratings.

The NBA traditionally schedules five games for December 25, and it’s important to have a strong lineup this year because the league will be competing with three NFL games. With six slots left to fill, let’s look at some of the teams that will be under consideration.

As defending Eastern Conference champions, the Celtics seem like a lock for Christmas Day, as do the Heat, who lost in a seven-game conference finals. Both teams have last year’s lineups returning virtually intact and figure to be at the top of the East again.

The Sixers have perennial All-Stars in Joel Embiid and James Harden, while the Bucks are also a title contender and sport two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Knicks represent the league’s biggest television market and are in a strong position to trade for Donovan Mitchell. The Nets are the wild card in the East because of the uncertain future of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who are a guaranteed ratings draw if they’re still on the team.

Out West, the Suns will get strong Christmas Day consideration after posting the league’s best record last season. The Clippers should be in the running if schedule makers expect Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to be fully recovered from last year’s injuries, and the Nuggets also have a two-time MVP in Nikola Jokic. A chance to showcase Zion Williamson could put the Pelicans in the running for a holiday game, while the young talent on the Timberwolves makes them an intriguing possibility as well.

We want to get your opinion. Which six teams would you add to the Christmas Day schedule and how would you match them up? Please leave your answer in the space below.

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Highest-Paid NBA Players By Team

August 12th, 2022 at 10:38am CST by Luke Adams

On Thursday, we listed the top 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2022/23 season. Although that list presented a clear picture of the highest earners for the current season, not every NBA team was represented. Five of the league’s 30 franchises – the Spurs, Rockets, Magic, Pistons and Pacers – didn’t have a single player in the top 50.

Our list of highest-paid players for 2022/23 also only provided a snapshot for this year. For example, Kevin Love, who cracked the top 50, will be well compensated for the coming season but is on an expiring contract and will almost certainly fall off that list next year.

Today, we’re shifting our focus to the highest-paid players by team. This will allow us to check in on the clubs that weren’t represented on our initial list, as well as identifying some of the league’s most lucrative multiyear commitments — we’ve included each club’s highest-paid player for the 2022/23 season and its highest-paid player in total.

Let’s dive in…

Atlanta Hawks

  • 2022/23: Trae Young ($37,096,500)
  • Total: Trae Young (five years, $215,159,700)
    • Note: Young’s final year is a player option.

Boston Celtics

  • 2022/23: Jayson Tatum ($30,351,780)
  • Total: Jayson Tatum (four years, $134,896,800)
    • Note: Tatum’s final year is a player option.

Brooklyn Nets

  • 2022/23: Kevin Durant ($44,119,845)
    • Note: Durant’s cap hit includes a $42,969,845 base salary and $1,150,000 in likely incentives.
  • Total: Kevin Durant (four years, $197,656,908)
    • Note: Durant’s four-year earnings include $192,504,908 in base salaries and $5,152,000 in likely incentives.

Charlotte Hornets

  • 2022/23: Gordon Hayward ($30,075,000)
  • Total: Terry Rozier (four years, $96,258,694)
    • Note: A small amount ($1,718,905) of Rozier’s final-year salary is non-guaranteed.

Chicago Bulls

  • 2022/23: Zach LaVine ($37,096,500)
  • Total: Zach LaVine (five years, $215,159,700)
    • Note: LaVine’s final year is a player option.

Cleveland Cavaliers

  • 2022/23: Kevin Love ($28,942,830)
  • Total: Darius Garland (six years, $201,770,795)
    • Note: The amount owed to Garland could increase to $240,340,795 if he makes an All-NBA team in 2023. The value of his maximum-salary extension is based on a projected $133MM salary cap for 2023/24.

Dallas Mavericks

  • 2022/23: Luka Doncic ($37,096,500)
  • Total: Luka Doncic (five years, $215,159,700)
    • Note: Doncic’s final year is a player option.

Denver Nuggets

  • 2022/23: Nikola Jokic ($33,047,803)
    • Note: Jokic’s cap hit includes a $32,478,837 base salary and $568,966 in likely incentives. He also has another $568,966 in unlikely incentives.
  • Total: Nikola Jokic (six years, $303,037,803)

    • Note: Jokic’s final year is a player option. The value of his maximum-salary extension is based on a projected $133MM salary cap for 2023/24.

Detroit Pistons

Golden State Warriors

  • 2022/23: Stephen Curry ($48,070,014)
  • Total: Stephen Curry (four years, $215,353,662)

Read more

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Community Shootaround: 2022’s Best, Worst Big-Money FA Deals

August 12th, 2022 at 7:54am CST by Luke Adams

When we identified the top 50 highest-paid NBA players of 2022/23 on Thursday, four names on that list were free agents who signed new contracts this offseason. Those players, who received the four most lucrative free agent deals of 2022, are as follows:

  • Bradley Beal, Wizards: Five years, $251,019,650. Fifth-year player option. 15% trade kicker. No-trade clause.
  • Zach LaVine, Bulls: Five years, $215,159,700. Fifth-year player option. 15% trade kicker.
  • Deandre Ayton, Suns: Four years, $132,929,128.
  • Jalen Brunson, Knicks: Four years, $104,000,000. Fourth-year player option. 10% trade kicker.

As our tracker shows, five other 2022 free agents received multiyear contracts that will pay them at least $15MM per year. Here are those players, along with the details of their new deals:

  • Anfernee Simons, Trail Blazers: Four years, $100,000,000.
  • Luguentz Dort, Thunder: Five years, $82,500,000. Fifth-year team option. Includes $5MM in unlikely incentives.
  • Jusuf Nurkic, Trail Blazers: Four years, $70,000,000.
  • James Harden, Sixers: Two years, $68,640,000. Second-year player option. 15% trade kicker.
  • Mitchell Robinson, Knicks: Four years, $60,000,000.

These nine contracts are what we’re considering the “big-money” deals of 2022 free agency. That term is subjective, but no other free agent received a contract worth more than $50MM in total, or with an annual average value of $15MM+, so these deals are in a class of their own.

With that in mind, we want to know which of this summer’s biggest free agent contracts you view as the best and worst values from a team perspective.

The Wizards have received some criticism not just for signing Beal to a contract exceeding $50MM per year but for handing him a series of perks that will give him significant leverage if the team wants to trade him down the road. But are there other contracts in the groups above that you’d consider even less team-friendly than Beal’s?

Harden, meanwhile, has been lauded for taking a pay cut that created the spending power necessary for the Sixers to sign P.J. Tucker and Danuel House, though his average salary ($34.32MM) is still the third-highest of any of this summer’s free agent deals. Does the short-term nature of that contract and his potential ceiling make it the most team-friendly contract of these nine, or is there another one you like more?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents on this year’s best and worst big-money free agent signings!

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NBA’s Top 50 Highest-Paid Players For 2022/23

August 11th, 2022 at 10:26am CST by Luke Adams

Many of the NBA’s highest-paid players are on contracts considered maximum-salary deals, but the 2022/23 salaries for those players vary significantly depending on when the player signed his contract and how much NBA experience he has. That’s why a player like Stephen Curry will earn about $17.7MM more than Donovan Mitchell in ’22/23 despite both stars technically being on max deals.

When a player signs a maximum-salary contract, he doesn’t necessarily earn the NBA max for each season of that contract — he earns the max in year one, then gets a series of identical annual raises. In Curry’s case, his 2022/23 salary actually exceeds this year’s maximum, since the annual cap increases since he began earning the max haven’t kept pace with his annual 8% raises.

Listed below, with some help from Spotrac‘s salary data, are the top 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2022/23 season. The players on this list don’t necessarily have the contracts with the largest overall value. The list below only considers salaries for ’22/23.

Additionally, we’ve noted players who could potentially increase their earnings via incentives or trade bonuses. We didn’t add those notes for players like Curry who have trade bonuses but are already earning the maximum — their salaries for this season can’t increase beyond their max.

The cutoff for a spot on this year’s top-50 list is over $25MM, so 13 players earning $20MM+ didn’t make the cut, led by Knicks forward Julius Randle ($23.76MM, plus incentives) and Hawks big man John Collins ($23.5MM).

Here are the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players for the 2022/23 season:

  1. Stephen Curry, Warriors: $48,070,014
  2. Russell Westbrook, Lakers: $47,063,478
  3. LeBron James, Lakers: $44,474,988
  4. Kevin Durant, Nets: $44,119,845
    • Note: Durant’s cap hit includes a $42,969,845 base salary and $1,150,000 in likely incentives.
  5. Bradley Beal, Wizards: $43,279,250
  6. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: $42,492,492 (15% trade kicker)
    Kawhi Leonard, Clippers: $42,492,492 (15% trade kicker)
    Paul George, Clippers: $42,492,492
    Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers: $42,492,492
  7. Klay Thompson, Warriors: $40,600,080 (15% trade kicker)
  8. Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves: $38,172,414
  9. Anthony Davis, Lakers: $37,980,720 (15% trade kicker)
  10. Khris Middleton, Bucks: $37,948,276
  11. Jimmy Butler, Heat: $37,653,300 (15% trade kicker)
  12. Tobias Harris, Sixers: $37,633,050 (5% trade kicker)
  13. Luka Doncic, Mavericks: $37,096,500
    Zach LaVine, Bulls: $37,096,500
    Trae Young, Hawks: $37,096,500
  14. Kyrie Irving, Nets: $36,934,550 (15% trade kicker)
    • Note: Irving’s cap hit includes a $36,503,300 base salary and $431,250 in likely incentives. He also has another $718,750 in unlikely incentives.
  15. Pascal Siakam, Raptors: $35,448,672
    Ben Simmons, Nets: $35,448,672
  16. Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves: $33,833,400 (15% trade kicker)
    Devin Booker, Suns: $33,833,400
    Kristaps Porzingis, Wizards: $33,833,400
  17. Jrue Holiday, Bucks: $33,665,040
    • Note: Holiday’s cap hit includes a $32,544,000 base salary and $1,121,040 in likely incentives. He also has another $4,752,000 in unlikely incentives.
  18. Joel Embiid, Sixers: $33,616,770
    Andrew Wiggins, Warriors: $33,616,770
  19. CJ McCollum, Pelicans: $33,333,333
  20. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: $33,047,803
    • Note: Jokic’s cap hit includes a $32,478,837 base salary and $568,966 in likely incentives. He also has another $568,966 in unlikely incentives.
  21. James Harden, Sixers: $33,000,000 (15% trade kicker)
  22. Brandon Ingram, Pelicans: $31,650,600
    Jamal Murray, Nuggets: $31,650,600
  23. D’Angelo Russell, Timberwolves: $31,377,750
  24. Deandre Ayton, Suns: $30,913,750
    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: $30,913,750
    Michael Porter Jr., Nuggets: $30,913,750
  25. Donovan Mitchell, Jazz: $30,351,780 (15% trade kicker)
    Jayson Tatum, Celtics: $30,351,780 (15% trade kicker)
    Bam Adebayo, Heat: $30,351,780
    De’Aaron Fox, Kings: $30,351,780
  26. Gordon Hayward, Hornets: $30,075,000 (15% trade kicker)
  27. Jaren Jackson Jr., Grizzlies: $28,946,605
  28. Kevin Love, Cavaliers: $28,942,830
  29. Jaylen Brown, Celtics: $28,741,071
    • Note: Brown’s cap hit includes a $26,669,643 base salary and $2,071,428 in likely incentives. He also has another $1,035,714 in unlikely incentives.
  30. Chris Paul, Suns: $28,400,000
  31. Kyle Lowry, Heat: $28,333,334
  32. Jalen Brunson, Knicks: $27,733,332 (10% trade kicker)
  33. DeMar DeRozan, Bulls: $27,300,000
  34. Al Horford, Celtics: $26,500,000
  35. Draymond Green, Warriors: $25,806,468 (15% trade kicker)

One player notably missing from this list is Clippers guard John Wall, who exercised a $47,366,760 player option for the 2022/23 season in June, when he was still a member of the Rockets. Wall eventually agreed to a buyout with Houston, but still counts for $40,866,760 against the team’s books this season, and is earning $6,479,000 on his new deal with L.A.

Wall’s combined cap hits would make him one of the top three highest-paid players for 2022/23, so why doesn’t he make the cut? Because he’s not actually earning all that money this season — even if a team doesn’t apply the stretch provision to a player’s cap hit when he’s waived, the player’s payments still get “stretched” across multiple seasons.

That means the Rockets will actually be paying the $40,866,760 they owe Wall across three years instead of just one, which works out to annual payments of approximately $13.62MM. Combining that number with Wall’s new $6,479,000 salary for 2022/23 wouldn’t make him one of the NBA’s top 50 highest-paid players for this season.

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Poll: Western Conference Vs. Eastern Conference

August 10th, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Entering 2021/22, Eastern Conference teams had posted a winning record against Western Conference teams just once in 22 seasons since the turn of the century. That happened during the 2008/09 campaign, when the East put up a 231-219 record vs. the West.

However, the East regained the upper hand last season, ever so slightly, finishing with a 226-224 record against Western opponents. Even though no team in the East won more than 53 games, the conference was deeper than the West, with 10 teams registering at least 43 victories. By contrast, only eight teams in the Western Conference won more than 36 games.

The emergence of Eastern teams like the Bulls, Cavaliers, and Hornets played a part in the conference’s relative success in 2021/22, while disappointing regular seasons by the Clippers, Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Pelicans were factors in the West’s slide.

Of course, many of those Western underachievers dealt with major injury issues — with better health from Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Damian Lillard, and Zion Williamson, those teams are poised to improve in 2022/23.

This summer’s trades and free agent moves don’t appear likely to swing the pendulum drastically from one conference to the other. Most of the offseason’s top free agents re-signed with their own teams, while the most impactful players who changed teams via trade generally remained in the same conference, including Rudy Gobert (Utah to Minnesota), Malcolm Brogdon (Indiana to Boston), and Christian Wood (Houston to Dallas). Jalen Brunson‘s move from Dallas to New York was one of the few instances of a noteworthy player changing conferences.

There are still big-name trade candidates whose eventual destinations could have a major impact on the East/West balance. Those deals could ultimately favor the East more than the West — the Knicks are considered Donovan Mitchell‘s top suitor, for instance, while Kevin Durant has been linked most frequently to the Heat, Celtics, and Raptors since the Suns brought back Deandre Ayton.

We want to know how you view the East and West ahead of the 2022/23 season. Will returning stars help the West reclaim its place as the dominant conference next year, or will the continued growth of improving Eastern squads result in back-to-back winning seasons vs. the West?

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

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2023 NBA Free Agents By Team

August 10th, 2022 at 1:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors’ up-to-date list of 2023 free agents by team is below. These are players who are eligible for restricted or unrestricted free agency after the 2022/23 season.

Players with team or player options for the 2023/24 season are listed, unless they’re rookie scale options. Potential restricted free agents are marked with (RFA).

This list will continue to be updated throughout the 2022/23 season, so be sure to use it and our list of 2023 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 10-24-23 (3:07pm CT)
Note: No longer being updated as of the start of the 2023/24 regular season.

Atlanta Hawks

  • None

Boston Celtics

  1. Blake Griffin

Brooklyn Nets

  • None

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Read more

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