- Kelly Iko and Danny Leroux of The Athletic explore some free agent options for the Rockets, assessing whether there are will be any available forwards or big men capable of playing the P.J. Tucker role in Houston — making outside shots, guarding bigs, and providing switchability on defense. Unsurprisingly, there likely won’t be many – or any – of those players available at a discount in free agency.
Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.
The Rockets took small-ball to another level at this year’s trade deadline when they sent Clint Capela to Atlanta in a four-team deal that left them without a real center. Houston’s ensuing “micro-ball” experiment brought out the best in Russell Westbrook and looked awfully effective at times, though the team turned in a few March duds, including losses to New York and Charlotte.
If the NBA is unable to resume its 2019/20 season, not getting to see how the Rockets’ lineup performed in the postseason will be a major loss — not just for fans, but for Houston’s front office, which didn’t get much of a sample to evaluate whether the experiment was worth extending beyond this season.
Here’s where things stand for the Rockets financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:
Guaranteed Salary
- Russell Westbrook ($41,358,814)
- James Harden ($41,254,920)
- Eric Gordon ($16,869,276)
- Robert Covington ($12,138,345)
- P.J. Tucker ($7,969,537)
- Danuel House ($3,717,000)
- Troy Williams ($122,741) — Waived via stretch provision.
- Total: $123,430,633
Player Options
- Austin Rivers ($2,436,046)
- Total: $2,436,046
Team Options
- David Nwaba ($1,824,003)
- Total: $1,824,003
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Ben McLemore ($2,283,034) 1
- Chris Clemons ($1,517,981)
- Total: $3,801,015
Restricted Free Agents
- Michael Frazier (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- William Howard (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total (cap holds): $2,891,394
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Tarik Black ($3,948,000): Non-Bird rights 3
- Bruno Caboclo ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights
- DeMarre Carroll ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
- Tyson Chandler ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
- Jeff Green ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
- Thabo Sefolosha ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
- Kenneth Faried ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights 3
- Trevon Duval ($1,445,697): Non-Bird rights 3
- Total: $15,117,081
Offseason Cap Outlook
With more than $123MM in guaranteed money committed to just six players for the 2020/21 season, the Rockets figure to exceed the luxury tax line if it stays at $132.6MM, and could become a taxpayer even if faced with a more forgiving tax threshold.
Of course, Houston has navigated its way out of the tax in each of the last two years, and team owner Tilman Fertitta has been particularly hard this season by the club’s lost China revenue and the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected many of his other businesses. As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Rockets cut costs, at least to some extent. For now, we’re assuming they’ll be limited to the taxpayer’s mid-level exception, but that could change.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,718,000 4
- Trade exception: $3,595,333 (expires 2/5/21)
- Trade exception: $2,564,753 (expires 2/5/21)
- Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 2/5/21)
- Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 2/8/21)
Footnotes
- McLemore’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after October 18.
- The cap holds for Black, Faried, and Duval remain on the Rockets’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2019/20. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- This is a projected value. If the team cuts costs, it could have the full mid-level exception ($9,258,000) and bi-annual exception ($3,623,000) available.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- Rockets guard Austin Rivers is likely to opt out of his $2.4MM salary for next season and test free agency, states Danny Leroux of The Athletic, who previews Houston’s offseason along with Kelly Iko. The Rockets hold Early Bird rights on Rivers and can start his new contract at nearly $10MM per season without having to use their mid-level exception.
- As Kelly Iko of The Athletic details, the Rockets only played 14 games after trading away Clint Capela before this year’s trade deadline. That small sample size could be problematic, especially if the season doesn’t resume, since the Rockets will have to make offseason decisions based on whether or not they feel the center-less lineup is a viable approach going forward.
- In a conversation with Michael Lee of The Athletic, former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich revisited some of the highlights – and lowlights – of his career and expressed gratitude at being elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this month. “I had been through the phone calls several times and got the, ‘Sorry, not this year.’ And it was so good to hear them say, ‘Rudy, you’re in,'” Tomjanovich said. “Still getting use to it. Still bouncing on a cloud. I feel really good about it.”
The Nuggets‘ acquired a first-round pick from the Rockets in the four-team, 12-player deal that sent Malik Beasley to the Wolves. That pick is currently slated to be the No. 21 overall selection and Mike Singer of the Denver Post examines five prospects the team could take at that spot in the first round.
Florida State guard Devin Vassell and Villanova forward Saddiq Bey are among the more intriguing options, in Singer’s view. Both players have range and could provide the Nuggets with depth, something that might be needed if Paul Millsap or Jerami Grant (player option) departs in free agency.
Here’s more on the upcoming draft:
- Nevada guard Jalen Harris has declared for the 2020 draft, Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets. Harris, who averaged 21.7 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 30 games as a junior, is the No. 93 overall prospect on ESPN.com‘s big board.
- The Hawks could go a number of different directions with their first-round pick, which is expected to fall in the top five, Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago writes. Depending on where the pick lands, the team could look for a new backcourt partner for Trae Young (Anthony Edwards or perhaps LaMelo Ball) or simply go with the best player available.
- Some NBA teams want to delay the draft until at least August 1. Check out the latest on that, as well as some of the restrictions that teams are facing as they virtually evaluate prospects.
While Vince Carter will be remembered for many accomplishments, his tenure in Dallas may be his most impressive stint, as I detailed on the Basketball Behind The Scenes podcast. Carter joined the Mavericks prior to the lockout-shortened 2011/12 season as the franchise was looking for another player capable of scoring on his own to pair with Dirk Nowitzki.
The former UNC Tar Heel altered his game during his three years in Dallas, shifting away from the ball-dominant ways of the 2000s scorer. Carter made the three-ball a larger part of his shot portfolio and embraced a willingness to be a contributor off the bench, something that was not as glorified then as it is today. Without the shift in his game, Carter may not have had the opportunity to play a record 22 seasons in the league.
Here are more basketball notes from the state of Texas:
- Nowitzki said that he would have probably turned down the opportunity to compete in ESPN’s H-O-R-S-E competition if he had been asked, as Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News tweets. The Mavericks‘ legend said he only touched a basketball a few times since retiring and once was for a commercial.
- Acknowledging that an early playoff exit might raise some eyebrows, Kelly Iko of The Athletic writes in a mailbag that Rockets GM Daryl Morey‘s aggressive roster moves in the last year suggest he still has ownership’s trust. Morey has gone in some unconventional directions – such as going completely centerless – that an executive without as much standing in an organization may not have attempted.
- The Rockets have a few contracts that could be difficult to move in the coming years, including Eric Gordon‘s deal, as John Hollinger tells Iko in a separate piece for The Athletic. The shooting guard inked a four-year, $73MM extension prior to the 2019/20 season.
Former NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
This year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony figures to be an emotional affair, with Bryant headlining the 2020 class just months after his tragic passing. The Lakers‘ legend was an 18-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion, winning the MVP award in 2008 to go along with a pair of Finals MVPs. He is fourth on the league’s all-time scoring list and won scoring titles in 2006 and 2007.
Bryant will be joined by a pair of fellow NBA champions, including Duncan, who won three Finals MVPs and five titles in total. Like Bryant, he was named to an All-NBA team 15 times over the course of his career. The longtime Spurs‘ big man was one of the best players of his era, ranking sixth on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list and fifth in blocked shots.
While Garnett’s résumé isn’t quite as decorated as that of Bryant and Duncan, he earned 15 All-Star nods, an MVP award (in 2004), a Defensive Player of the Year award (2008), and a title in 2008 with the Celtics. Garnett, who began his career with the Timberwolves, ranks in the NBA’s top 20 in career points, rebounds, blocks, and steals.
Bryant, Duncan, and Garnett may be this year’s headliners, but they aren’t the only ones being inducted into the Hall of Fame. According to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link), former Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich has also been elected.
Tomjanovich is one of just three coaches to win both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal. He coached Houston to a pair of championships in the mid-1990s and had an impressive career as a Rockets player prior to his coaching days, earning five NBA All-Star nods in his 11-year career.
Tamika Catchings, Kim Mulkey, Eddie Sutton, and Barbara Stevens were announced as Hall of Fame finalists in February — it’s unclear if anyone from that group will be inducted into the 2020 class alongside Bryant, Duncan, Garnett, and Tomjanovich. The official announcement will happen on Saturday.
It remains to be seen what form this year’s induction ceremony will take. It’s scheduled to happen on August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts, but there’s no guarantee that the coronavirus situation will have improved enough by then to hold large-scale gatherings.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is hopeful that the NBA will be able to resume its 2019/20 season, since he feels as if his club is in a good spot to make some noise in the playoffs. Speaking to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle, Morey said he was pleased by the way Russell Westbrook and James Harden had meshed in recent months.
“I think we’re as well positioned as we’ve ever been with our current situation,” Morey said. “Maybe we’re not the ’96 Bulls, but I think we’re a team that can win the title in any given year, including this one.”
Morey declined to comment on whether he believes the season can be salvaged, but said he’s “confident in general” about the NBA’s outlook: “I’m optimistic in a lot of ways that we’ll come out of this crisis and that basketball will come out of it as well.”
Feigen’s Q&A with Morey included several other interesting tidbits, as the Rockets’ GM discussed his draft preparations, Mike D’Antoni‘s future, the club’s ability to spend, and more. Let’s round up some of the highlights…
On preparing for the draft despite not having a first- or second-round pick:
“We have a long history of buying (draft picks), which I think has a reasonable chance of happening. We also might have a trade to trade (into the draft.) Actually, having no pick ends up harder than having a pick. You normally don’t want to roster more than one to three rookies in a given year. We generally like to roster at least one because I think it is smart to always have a developmental pipeline going.
“You’re preparing for a much wider list. You have to be ready to trade into the first round. You have to be ready to buy a pick. You have to be ready for the crush as teams chase undrafted players. We’re going to prepare everything now because we just don’t know how much time there’s going to be between things like we normally know.”
On the Rockets’ roster going forward:
“Our (trade) deadline really set us up well. Not only did we shoot for a better structure of our core players, that they fit together better, but also allowed us to be more flexible going forward to add players that we think overall as we allocate our player spending. We were over-weighted at the five spot. This opens up ability to spend at other spots.”
On whether the Rockets want to retain D’Antoni and his staff beyond this season:
“Coach D’Antoni is one of the best all-time coaches, in my opinion. To me, he’s like one of those players in the past that hadn’t quite won the title yet. I’m hoping this is the year for him. He’s one of the all-time great innovators and a great partner. I’d love for it to keep going. It takes two to tango, but we’re going to figure that out in the offseason.”
On how he’d respond to criticism of moves that appeared designed to cut costs and avoid the tax:
“Judge us by results on the floor. I honestly don’t get the focus on what owners around the league are spending. Pretty much every owner is spending … right around the luxury tax line. That’s where we’ve been literally my whole career. Nothing’s changed. That’s how every team operates.”
- Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has been “absolutely devastated” financially over the last several months, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on a Hoop Collective podcast. As Windhorst explains, Fertitta is believed to have lost “tens of millions” of dollars in Chinese sponsorships as a result of the Daryl Morey controversy in the fall, and his hotel and casino businesses have been shut down as a result of the coronavirus. Windhorst notes that it’ll be interesting to see how the Rockets handle their payroll going forward, considering they’ve already been tax-averse since Fertitta’s arrival.