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Three 2017 Free Agents Signed Five-Year Contracts

August 7th, 2017 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement is designed to give teams certain benefits when it comes to re-signing their own free agents. Many players who reach free agency, for instance, are permitted to get 8% annual raises from their own teams, while they can only get 5% raises from another team. More notably, Bird rights free agents can sign five-year contracts with their own teams, but can only go up to four years with other clubs.

In some cases, that extra year doesn’t make much of a difference. For instance, Gordon Hayward left Utah for Boston and signed a four-year contract with the Celtics, even though the Jazz likely would have been willing to do a five-year max.

Still, for at least a small handful of players, that five-year contract may have played a part in their decisions to return to their own teams. As our Free Agent Tracker shows, three free agents signed five-year deals this year, and all three of those contracts were worth at least $131MM. One was a maximum salary pact, and another was very close to the max.

Here are those five-year contracts, which will run through the 2021/22 season:

Stephen Curry (Warriors): Five years, $201,158,790 (maximum salary)
Blake Griffin (Clippers): Five years, $171,174,820 (fifth-year player option)
Jrue Holiday (Pelicans): Five years, $131,100,000 (fifth-year player option)

Curry was never a threat to leave Golden State, but Griffin and Holiday reportedly drew interest from several other teams. The Suns were believed to be eyeing Griffin, while Holiday was said to have received interest from the Mavericks, Knicks, and others. However, the fact that those players’ old teams were willing to offer five years likely made negotiations much simpler, since no rival suitor could offer that fifth year.

Although neither Griffin nor Holiday received the max from their respective teams, they’ll both earn more money over five years than any other team could have offered over four — Holiday’s deal is believed to include unlikely incentives that could increase its total value to $150MM.

Meanwhile, Griffin and Holiday also received fifth-year player options, which gives them a safety net for the summer of 2021. If they’re still playing at a high level at that point, it might make sense to opt out and sign a new, longer-term contract. If their production has slipped, or if they’re battling injuries, they’ll have the option of remaining in their current contract and collecting a big pay check in that fifth year.

The ability to offer an additional year to their own free agents hasn’t always prevented teams from losing top-tier players on the open market, but there are still a few instances where that fifth year seems to make a difference. In 2017, there may have only been a couple scenarios where that fifth year was a difference-maker, but the Clippers and Pelicans are likely happy that it remained written into the new CBA.

NBA Teams Projected To Be 2017/18 Taxpayers

August 7th, 2017 at 11:28am CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of 2016’s salary cap spike, the luxury tax line was higher than ever in 2016/17, and only two teams finished the season above it. The Clippers barely crossed over into taxpayer territory, while the Cavaliers blew past that threshold and were on the hook for a big tax bill.

In 2017/18, the salary cap increase was far more modest, and as a result, it appears that several more teams will finish the season as taxpayers, surpassing this year’s $119.266MM tax line. Teams have until the end of the ’17/18 regular season to adjust team salary in an effort to get back under the tax line, but most of those clubs will have little leverage if they try to dump salary, so it won’t be easy to cut costs.

Here’s an early look at the teams likely to finish 2017/18 as taxpayers:

Cleveland Cavaliers
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $139.73MM
No team is further over the tax line than the Cavaliers, and Cleveland will also qualify as a repeat taxpayer for the first time this year, making the penalties levied against the franchise more punitive. Currently, the Cavs’ projected tax bill is approaching $70MM, which explains why the team is interested in attaching an extra contract or two to Kyrie Irving in any trade.

Golden State Warriors
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $135.36MM
Last year’s dominant Warriors team actually didn’t have one of the more expensive rosters in the league, but that will change this time around, with several players signing lucrative new deals. The biggest raise belongs to Stephen Curry, who played out the final season of a four-year, $44MM deal in 2016/17, and will now start a five-year, $200MM+ pact.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $125.99MM
Years ago, the Thunder decided to move on from James Harden when he and the team couldn’t agree to terms on an extension that would have created luxury-tax issues for the franchise. Now, Oklahoma City has the third-highest team salary in the NBA, and a projected tax bill that will exceed $10MM.

Portland Trail Blazers
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $124.25MM
The Trail Blazers managed to slash their projected tax bill significantly a couple weeks ago when they sent Allen Crabbe to the Nets for Andrew Nicholson. Assuming they eventually waive and stretch Nicholson’s contract, as expected, the pair of transactions will save the club upwards of $40MM in tax payments alone.

Washington Wizards
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $123.54MM
Going into tax territory was necessary if the Wizards wanted to match Otto Porter‘s offer sheet from the Nets and bring him back. Fortunately for the club, John Wall‘s new super-max extension won’t go into effect until 2019/20 — his current salary is far below the 2017/18 max, which will save the Wizards from paying more exorbitant tax penalties.

Milwaukee Bucks
Current guaranteed team salary (approximate): $119.38MM
The Bucks currently project to be over the tax threshold by a very small amount, and I’d be surprised if the team doesn’t make every effort to trim payroll and sneak below that line before the season is over. Milwaukee isn’t a big-market team, and the opportunity to be on the receiving end of the luxury tax – rather than the paying end – will be tantalizing.

Outside of the six teams listed above, a handful of other clubs are inching dangerously close to tax territory. Among them: The Clippers, whose estimated guaranteed team salary sits about $100K below the tax threshold; the Pelicans, who are less than $1MM below the tax line; and the Rockets, who only have about $114.75MM in guarantees, but are carrying several million more dollars in non-guaranteed contracts.

Salary information from ESPN, Basketball Insiders, and HeatHoops was used in the creation of this post.

Cousins: Rondo Brings Leadership

August 3rd, 2017 at 9:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

DeMarcus Cousins believes Rajon Rondo, who signed a one-year deal with Pelicans, can bring leadership to the team, as William Guillory of The Times-Picayune relays. “His [basketball] IQ is through the roof,” Cousins said. “He’s so smart sometimes that it’s actually kind of scary. You might think he’s psychic, it’s kind of freaky. He has leadership qualities, he’s always going to bring out the best in his teammates.”

DeMarcus Cousins Plays Recruiter Role For Pelicans

August 3rd, 2017 at 7:48pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pelicans made two notable signings over the past couple weeks, inking both Rajon Rondo and Ian Clark to one-year contracts. DeMarcus Cousins played a big role in both of those deals, according to coach Alvin Gentry.

“He’s done a phenomenal job this year of helping recruit free agents,” Gentry said of Cousins (via William Guillory of The Times-Picayune). “He’s talked to Rondo, he’s talked to Ian Clark, he’s talked to all of those guys that we’ve been trying to sign and he’s been very active in that.”

Cousins wants the Pelicans to add talent so the team can make the playoffs, something he never accomplished during eight years in Sacramento. He’s been doing his part to help with that process.

“We want to win. We need as much talent and as many pieces as we can get,” Cousins said. “I’ve reached out to everybody. I mean, I don’t want to throw names out there, but some of the biggest names that are on the block right now I’ve reached out to. It’s just about getting better.

“We see where the NBA is going, we need as much help and as much talent as we can get just to match up with the [reigning champion Golden State Warriors]…We’re fully invested in this and we want to win.”

The big man will be a free agent after the 2017/18 season, but his activism within the franchise could be seen as a sign that he’s not planning on going anywhere. It was reported on Wednesday that Cousins may have much at stake during the upcoming campaign.

Pelicans Sign Ian Clark

August 3rd, 2017 at 4:54pm CST by marksuleymanov

August 3: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

August 1: The Pelicans have agreed to a one-year, $1.6MM with free agent guard Ian Clark, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical. Clark’s deal is the standard minimum pact for a player with four years of experience.

Clark, 26, has been a key piece of the Warriors’ reserve unit the past two seasons, including the team’s championship-winning 2016/17 campaign. The Pelicans feel Clark’s postseason experience and ability to mesh well with most of the roster makes him an ideal fit, tweets Scott Kushner of The Advocate.

In 77 games off the bench last season, Clark averaged 6.8 PPG, 1.3 RPG and 1.6 APG in 14.8 minutes. The former undrafted guard’s strong suit has been his outside shooting; after shooting almost 36% from beyond the arc in 2015/16, the Belmont University product shot a career-best 37% from three last season.

The Warriors essentially replaced one sharpshooter with another as the team signed Nick Young earlier this offseason. With the Pelicans, Clark figures to see significant playing time for a team that is already excited for 2017/18 with the addition of Rajon Rondo, re-signing of Jrue Holiday, and a full season of DeMarcus Cousins looming.

Clark will likely fight for playing time alongside Jordan Crawford and E’Twaun Moore as wings for the Pelicans.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Southwest Notes: Cousins, Holiday, Noel

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:05pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Pelicans added Rajon Rondo this offseason and DeMarcus Cousins is thrilled about the addition, as he tells Chris Mannix of The Vertical.

“Rajon is like a big brother to me,” Cousins said. “He taught me a lot in that one season we had together. Our relationship remained strong and we always thought we’d wind up being teammates again later down the road. I never expected it to be this soon, but I’m also happy about it.”

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

The decision to play Jrue Holiday off the ball was forced upon the Pelicans because of their cap concerns, James Blancarte of Basketball Insiders explains. The team didn’t have much flexibility to add shooting this offseason, so moving Holiday—someone who’s a career 36.6% three-point shooter— off the ball adds a dimension to the offense without bringing in an expensive wing.
Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News speculates that the Mavericks will complete a deal with Nerlens Noel before training camp begins. However, the scribe notes that nothing has to happen until October 16 when the center’s qualifying offer expires.

Rival Executives Keeping Tabs On DeMarcus Cousins

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:20pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Executives around the league are keeping a close eye on DeMarcus Cousins and the Pelicans this season. One Western Conference team executive tells Chris Mannix of The Vertical that Cousins, who will be a free agent next summer, could cost himself a sizable deal if things don’t go well in New Orleans.

“This season is huge,” said the anonymous Western Conference team executive. “He has to prove he can win. He has never played with anyone near the talent of Davis. He has to show he is willing to sacrifice for the team and do what is best for the team first. He really needs to turn a corner. If he acts up, he will cost himself a lot of money.”

Another Western Conference executive echoed that sentiment, telling Mannix that “there’s no way to overstate it—there is huge money on the line.”

The 26-year-old big man remains focused on the upcoming campaign and refuses to worry his contract situation. “I’m not real concerned,” Cousins said. “I know people know my talent. I’m past all that.”

Cousins came to New Orleans via a trade deadline deal that sent a package centered around Buddy Hield and a first-rounder to Sacramento. The Pelicans went 7-10 during games in which Cousins played. Could it be that having two 6’11” behemoths in the same lineup is no longer a sustainable model for building a winning team? Cousins doesn’t believe that to be true.

“I think the game is actually playing into our hands,” Cousins said. “I think me and A.D. have a skill set that a lot of bigs don’t have in this league, or the league hasn’t seen in some bigs throughout the history of the game. I think it actually plays into our hands, and we’re just rolling with the punches. I don’t think [a smaller game] will effect me or A.D. at all.

“That sample size we got last season is the reason I’m so confident this season. I believe we can make it work, and I think we’re going to surprise a lot more people than people actually expect. For some reason we’re being counted out, but that’s actually OK. We’re going to surprise a lot of people this season.”

Pelicans Sign Charles Cooke To Two-Way Deal

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:22am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 2: Shortly after confirming Jones’ two-way contract with the club, the Pelicans have done the same with Cooke’s, issuing a press release to confirm his new two-way deal.

JULY 31: The Pelicans have reached an agreement with undrafted Dayton guard Charles Cooke, and will sign him to a two-way contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Cooke, 23, averaged 15.7 PPG and 5.3 RPG during his senior year at Dayton, recording a shooting line of .485/.398/.694. The young shooting guard wasn’t viewed as an elite prospect, but was ranked 32nd among this year’s seniors by DraftExpress.

Shortly after the draft ended last month, a report indicated that Cooke had agreed to a deal with the Timberwolves. However, that agreement only spanned Summer League play — the 6’5″ guard averaged 10.0 PPG and 3.0 RPG in five games for the Wolves in Vegas. Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News had reported last week (via Twitter) that Cooke wasn’t open to a two-way contract with Minnesota.

For the Pelicans, Cooke appears to be their second two-way player. Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days reported this weekend (via Twitter) that Jalen Jones‘ agreement with the Pelicans is a two-way deal. That signing isn’t official yet, but is expected to be finalized soon.

Pelicans Sign Jalen Jones To Two-Way Contract

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 2: The Pelicans have officially signed Jones to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release. The club recently reached an agreement with Charles Cooke for its other two-way spot.

JULY 25: The Pelicans are expected to sign former Texas A&M forward Jalen Jones, a source tells Orazio Cauchi of Sportando. Details of Jones’ potential deal aren’t known, but it would likely be a training camp invite without a full guarantee, assuming it’s not a two-way contract.

Jones, 24, went undrafted in 2016 but signed a training camp deal with the Celtics. Although the 6’7″ small forward didn’t earn a spot on Boston’s regular season roster, he became an affiliate player for the club after being waived, joining the G League’s Maine Red Claws.

Jones enjoyed an impressive 2016/17 campaign in Maine, averaging 21.0 PPG and 9.0 RPG — he was named to the All NBA G League Third Team. Jones further impressed the Pelicans in Summer League play this month, recording 13.3 PPG and 6.2 RPG in six games for the club.

Assuming he gets a camp deal from the Pelicans, Jones would join Jrue Holiday, Rajon Rondo, and Darius Miller as the free agents to sign NBA contracts with the franchise so far this offseason. New Orleans also added Frank Jackson in the draft.

Latest On NBA’s Summer Salary Guarantee Dates

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat didn’t make any roster moves with Rodney McGruder or Okaro White on Tuesday, ensuring that both players remain under contract and received partial guarantees on their contracts for 2017/18, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

As Basketball Insiders details, McGruder and White are on minimum salary deals worth $1,312,611 for the coming season. By remaining with the Heat through August 1, both players are now in line for about $453K in guaranteed money. Their full salaries will become guaranteed if they stay under contract through the first game of the regular season.

Meanwhile, as we noted last night, the Hornets also kept Johnny O’Bryant on their roster beyond his August 1 salary guarantee deadline, making his $1,524,305 minimum salary fully guaranteed.

Other players, including Jordan Crawford of the Pelicans and Bryn Forbes of the Spurs, had August 1 salary guarantee deadlines in their contracts as well, per Basketball Insiders’ data. However, we haven’t received confirmation that their guarantees are locked in.

Neither Crawford nor Forbes was waived, but teams and players can sometimes agree to push back guarantee dates to create more flexibility for the club — the Trail Blazers recently did just that with Pat Connaughton, whose salary guarantee deadline is now August 31 instead of July 25.

For more details on which players have received salary guarantees this summer – as well as which players have been waived before those guarantees kicked in – be sure to check out our full breakdown.