- New Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin has said he’ll try to get Anthony Davis – and agent Rich Paul – to buy into a future in New Orleans before seriously exploring the trade market for Davis. According to Kyler, Griffin has made it clear “both publicly and privately” that he wants a long-term commitment from Davis if he’s going to retain him. That probably means that the only two realistic outcomes for AD this offseason are a super-max extension or a trade.
[SOURCE LINK]
Coming off an impressive 2017/18 season in which they advanced to the Western Semifinals, the Pelicans had hopes of contending in 2018/19. Instead, New Orleans played sub-.500 ball in the first half and saw things go from bad to worse when Anthony Davis made a public trade request in January. Now, new head of basketball operations David Griffin will be tasked with determining the next move in the Davis saga, which will have significant impact on the future of the franchise.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Pelicans financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- Anthony Davis ($27,093,018)
- Jrue Holiday ($26,231,111)
- Solomon Hill ($12,758,781)
- E’Twaun Moore ($8,664,928)
- Frank Jackson ($506,143) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. 1
- Total: $75,253,981
Player Options
- Julius Randle ($9,073,050)
- Total: $9,073,050
Team Options
- Jahlil Okafor ($1,702,486) 2
- Total: $1,702,486
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Christian Wood ($1,645,357)
- Dairis Bertans ($1,416,852) 3
- Kenrich Williams ($1,416,852) 4
- Frank Jackson ($1,112,377) 1
- Total: $5,591,438
Restricted Free Agents
- Stanley Johnson ($4,485,665 qualifying offer / $11,821,206 cap hold): Bird rights
- Cheick Diallo ($1,931,189 qualifying offer / $1,931,189 cap hold): Bird rights
- Total: $13,752,395
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- No. 1 overall pick ($9,744,840)
- Elfrid Payton ($3,600,000): Non-Bird rights
- Darius Miller ($2,866,500): Early Bird rights
- Ian Clark ($1,618,486): Early Bird rights
- Jordan Crawford ($1,618,486): Early Bird rights 5
- Trevon Bluiett ($1,443,842): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $16,447,714
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $16MM
- There are a lot of wild cards at play in the Pelicans’ offseason. Davis’ future is the biggest one, but there are a number of free agents or players on non-guaranteed salaries on the roster whose fates are unclear too. Our projection assumes the Pelicans keep their four players with fully guaranteed salaries, plus Jackson, Okafor, and Wood, who all have reasonable contracts.
- New Orleans’ actual summer may – and probably will – end up playing out much differently. If the Pelicans want to re-sign Randle and/or some other free agents, they might not use cap room at all. On the other hand, if the Pels trade Davis for a pick-heavy package and don’t take back a ton of salary, they could end up with substantially more cap room than we project.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Room exception: $4,760,000 6
Footnotes
- Jackson’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
- If Okafor’s team option is exercised, his salary is still only partially guaranteed for $54,323.
- Bertans’ salary becomes partially guaranteed ($150K) after August 1.
- Williams’ salary becomes partially guaranteed ($200K) after July 20.
- Crawford’s cap hold remains on the Pelicans’ books because he hasn’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. He can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- This is a projected value. If the Pelicans remain over the cap, they’d instead have access to the full mid-level exception ($9,246,000) and their lone remaining trade exception ($3,109,598; expires 2/7/20).
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nene didn’t play in the Rockets first four playoff games but he saw action in the team’s closeout win over the Jazz and Game 1 loss to the Warriors, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes.
“It’s a man’s game and he’s a man,” coach Mike D’Antoni said of Nene’s play. “He’s effective for limited minutes. We have to be careful with him because we like for him to last the whole time. But he was good.”
Nene only suited up in 42 games for the Rockets this season. He’s made all six of his attempts over the past two playoff games, giving Houston 22 minutes of solid play.
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- The Pelicans have poached athletic trainer Aaron Nelson from the Suns, Marc Stein of the New York Times reports (Twitter link). Vice president of basketball operations David Griffin worked with Nelson while the two were in Phoenix together.
- Rudy Gay is the only free agent of “significance” in San Antonio, Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes in his Spurs offseason preview, adding that Gay would like to stay with the Spurs on a “team-friendly” deal. The combo forward made slightly over $10MM this past season.
- The Spurs could look to trade either Bryn Forbes of Marco Belinelli, Deveney contends in the same piece. The team has a logjam at their guard spots and both Dejounte Murray and Derrick White have too much upside for Spurs to think about moving either of them. Deveney also adds that coach Gregg Popovich, who’s expected to sign a new deal with San Antonio, values Patty Mills as a leader, making his departure unlikely.
After taking over as the head of basketball operations in New Orleans, new Pelicans executive David Griffin had reportedly hoped to reunite with Trent Redden, who worked with him in Cleveland’s front office. However, Redden – now an assistant general manager for the Clippers – has opted to remain in Los Angeles, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Redden met with Griffin earlier this month to discuss a front office role, as we relayed a week and a half ago. With Redden no longer in the mix for a job in New Orleans, it remains to be seen which direction Griffin will go to fill out his front office.
This is the second time this month that a top Clippers executive has turned down the opportunity to either interview for – or accept – a job in another front office that would ostensibly represent a promotion. Previously, Clips GM Michael Winger opted to withdraw his name from consideration for the Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations position.
In Redden’s case, there were rumblings that New Orleans was interested in making him the club’s general manager under Griffin. However, as Wojnarowski explains, despite a “great belief” in Griffin, Redden still has a strong connection to the Clippers’ group and wants to see the club’s unfinished business through.
- Pelicans‘ new general manager David Griffin is prioritizing hiring highly-respected trainer Aaron Nelson, currently the Suns’ Senior Vice President of Athlete Health & Performance, away from Phoenix, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times. As his profile on the National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association states, Nelson and his staff have built the Suns into an industry leader with a reputation for prolonging the careers of some of the game’s best players.
All signs point to Rob Pelinka having full power to run the Lakers in the wake of Magic Johnson’s resignation, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. Sources tell Amick that the team didn’t contact David Griffin, LeBron James‘ former GM in Cleveland, before he joined the Pelicans earlier this month. They also didn’t try to lure GM Bob Myers from the Warriors or consultant Jerry West from the Clippers.
Pelinka has orchestrated the coaching search ever since the team parted ways with Luke Walton, Amick adds. He identified Tyronn Lue, Monty Williams, Juwan Howard and Jason Kidd as candidates and organized their interviews.
Although Pelinka is running the show, the number of people with a voice in front office decisions has grown since Johnson left. In addition to Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss, the interviews with Lue and Howard were attended by president of business operations Tim Harris, VP of research and development Joey Buss and assistant GM and director of scouting Jesse Buss.
There’s more today from L.A.:
- James plans to stay out of personnel decisions and will trust Lakers management to assemble a playoff contender, Amick reports in the same story. LeBron bristles at suggestions that he serves as de facto GM wherever he goes and plans to stay out of the spotlight this summer. He released an Instagram video this week proclaiming his faith in the front office.
- The Clippers‘ performance this year set a foundation for what could be a vastly improved roster next season, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. Doc Rivers‘ team gained respect throughout the league by reaching the postseason after trading away leading scorer Tobias Harris in February. “When you are knocked out of the playoffs there’s obviously some times it’s a relief,” Rivers said. “And there are some times you just don’t want it to happen and last night was one of those points. Just the sense of disappointment — even though you know the group you had overachieved, you still don’t want it to end.”
- A lawsuit contesting the Clippers‘ proposed new Inglewood arena is moving forward, reports Nathan Fenno of The Los Angeles Times. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has rejected an attempt to block the suit, which was filed by Uplift Inglewood, a community group dedicated to affordable housing.
Despite winning just 17 games in 2018/19, the Knicks repeatedly suggested they were happy with the direction the franchise was headed. As Ian Begley of ESPN.com details, head coach David Fizdale said that he had heard praise from people around the NBA for how hard his players were competing, and for how the Knicks were treating their players, which was the sort of praise the franchise hadn’t received in recent years.
“In our circles that we travel and the people that we talk to,” team president Steve Mills said, “we know that there is a change in how people perceive us.”
Not everyone is convinced that things are altogether different in New York. One rival executive who spoke to Begley expressed his skepticism: “Maybe it’s just me, but I’d like to see the results on the court before making any bold statements about perception.”
Still, armed with a ton of cap flexibility, a top-five pick, and a handful of other assets, the Knicks are viewed as a team in a pretty good position as they enter the summer.
“If we’re ranking teams heading into the offseason, New York probably has the best tools in the toolshed,” said a Western Conference executive. “Maybe they get it right this time.”
Here’s more from Begley on the Knicks:
- Several of Kevin Durant‘s current teammates have told friends they think KD will sign with the Knicks, and some of Durant’s former teammates think it’ll happen too, according to Begley. The Durant-to-New-York theories are also popular among rival agents around the NBA. “Just a matter of putting pen to paper,” one of those agents told Begley.
- In addition to Durant, Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard are viewed as potential targets for the Knicks this summer, and while Leonard is considered a longer shot, multiple executives who are “doing their homework” on free agency believe Irving will end up with the Knicks, per Begley.
- As Begley details, some executives would be surprised if the Knicks spend big on a long-term contract for any free agents besides Durant, Irving, or Leonard. Those execs expect New York to use its cap space in other ways – such as accommodating salary dumps or signing short-term free agent deals – if the team misses out on its top targets.
- If the Knicks land the No. 1 overall pick, it would put them in a great position to make a play for Anthony Davis on the trade market. However, there’s no consensus that the club would definitely trade that pick in a package for the Pelicans star, sources tell Begley.
When David Griffin was formally introduced as the new head of basketball operations in New Orleans last week, one of the first things he said was that he’ll make every effort to convince Anthony Davis that he can win with the Pelicans. It sounds like he’ll a chance to make that pitch fairly soon, as Scott Kushner of The Advocate hears from sources that the two sides are expected to meet next month.
Davis, of course, requested a trade midway through the 2018/19 season. While he wasn’t moved at the deadline it has seemed like a fait accompli that he’ll be wearing a new team’s uniform by opening night in 2019/20.
However, as Kushner points out, Griffin has a good relationship with Davis’ agent Rich Paul, who represented LeBron James when Griffin was the general manager in Cleveland. The Pelicans’ new executive VP of basketball operations also won’t be influenced by any recent tension with Davis or his camp, since he wasn’t part of the organization when the All-Star big man asked to be traded. Plus, New Orleans can still put a super-max extension offer on the table.
That doesn’t mean that Davis will reconsider his trade request or that Griffin will convince him to stick around, but AD himself acknowledged at season’s end that there was no guarantee he wouldn’t return to the Pelicans.
“I’m under contract still,” Davis said two weeks ago, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. “I have a year left. Obviously it’s a possibility it could happen. I don’t have ill will towards anybody. I know that it’s a possibility that next year I could be here as well. So I can’t be mad if I’m here next year.”
Griffin told reporters during his introductory press conference that his goal is to assess whether Davis is all-in or all-out on the Pelicans before the team makes any major decisions. It sounds like he’ll get a chance to have that discussion within the next few weeks.
Having created a space to track the NBA’s head coaching changes this spring, it only makes sense that we should do the same for the teams shaking up their front offices.
Of course, the front office structure for an NBA franchise generally isn’t as cut-and-dried as a coaching staff. All 30 teams will enter the 2019/20 season employing a head coach and a staff of assistant coaches. But not every team will have an executive with the title of “president of basketball operations” or “executive VP of basketball operations” on its payroll. And while some general managers around the league have decision-making power within their organizations, that certainly doesn’t apply to all of them.
Nonetheless, we’ll do our best to track this spring’s front office changes in the space below, monitoring which executives have decision-making power in each new management group. Some of these searches could extend well into the spring, so be sure to check back each day for the latest updates.
Completed Searches:
Los Angeles Lakers
- Out: Magic Johnson (story)
- Hired: No one
- Following Johnson’s shocking resignation, there was plenty of speculation about which high-level rival executives the Lakers might target to replace him. The answer? Nobody. The Lakers appear content to have general manager Rob Pelinka – with the help of a Rambis or two – run the front office, at least for the 2019 offseason. A report confirmed that the team has no plans to hire a new president of basketball operations to replace Johnson.
Memphis Grizzlies
- Out: Chris Wallace (story)
- Promoted: Jason Wexler, team president (story); Zach Kleiman, executive VP of basketball operations (story); Tayshaun Prince, VP of basketball affairs (story)
- Hired: Rich Cho, vice president of basketball strategy (story); Glen Grunwald, senior advisor (story)
- The Grizzlies demoted general manager Chris Wallace after the season ended, re-assigning him to their scouting department, and promoted two non-basketball executive to top roles in the front office. By promoting Prince and hiring Cho and Grunwald, the club added a pair of more seasoned basketball executives to their management group, but it still sounds like Wexler will oversee the basketball operations department, with Kleiman taking the lead on day-to-day matters. More hires are expected, but those will likely fill supporting roles.
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Out: Tom Thibodeau (story)
- Hired: Gersson Rosas, president of basketball operations (story); Gianluca Pascucci, assistant GM (story); Sachin Gupta, executive VP of basketball operations (story)
- Having dismissed Thibodeau in January, the Timberwolves finished the 2018/19 season with GM Scott Layden running the show. However, they announced at the end of the regular season that they’d begin searching for a new president of basketball operations to replace Thibodeau. After interviewing several candidates, they ultimately landed on Rosas, a longtime Daryl Morey lieutenant in Houston.
- Also considered: Chauncey Billups (story), Trajan Langdon (story), Calvin Booth (story), Michael Winger (story)
New Orleans Pelicans
- Out: Dell Demps (story); Danny Ferry (story)
- Hired: David Griffin, executive VP of basketball operations (story); Trajan Langdon, general manager (story)
- The Pelicans fired Demps during the season and finished the season out with Ferry holding the interim GM role. Ferry was considered for the permanent job, but ultimately withdrew from consideration, citing concerns about moving his family to New Orleans full-time. Shortly thereafter, the Pelicans officially hired Griffin to run their basketball operations department. They later hired Langdon, who had interviewed for the top job, as their GM under Griffin.
- Also considered: Larry Harris (story), Gersson Rosas (story), Tommy Sheppard (story), Danny Ferry (story)
Phoenix Suns
- Out: Ryan McDonough (story)
- Promoted: James Jones, permanent GM (story)
- Hired: Jeff Bower, senior VP of basketball operations (story)
- Considering McDonough was fired back in October, it may not be fair to consider this an offseason change. But when the regular season ended, it wasn’t clear who would be running the Suns’ front office going forward, after Jones and Trevor Bukstein served as interim co-GMs since McDonough’s ouster. Phoenix answered that question quickly, announcing Jones’ promotion to the permanent GM role. The team also compensated for Jones’ relative lack of management experience by pairing him with a veteran executive in Bower, who figures to play a key role in the front office.
Washington Wizards
- Out: Ernie Grunfeld (story)
- Promoted: Tommy Sheppard, general manager (story)
- Hired: Sashi Brown, chief planning and operations officer (story)
- The Wizards fired Grunfeld about a week before their season ended and hired a search firm to identify candidates to replace him. Although they conducted a number of interviews for the job, they ultimately chose to elevate an internal candidate, promoting Sheppard to the permanent GM job after he ran it on an interim basis through the draft and free agency. Former NFL executive Brown also joined the front office in a top role.
- Also considered/rumored: Danny Ferry (story), Troy Weaver (story), Gersson Rosas (hired by Wolves), Tim Connelly (turned down offer), Masai Ujiri (story)
- Clippers assistant general manager Trent Redden is in New Orleans this week, tweets Scott Kushner of The Advocate. Nothing is official yet, but there have been whispers that the Pelicans plan to hire Redden as their new GM under David Griffin. Redden and Griffin have already met in New Orleans, reports Andrew Lopez of NOLA.com (via Twitter).