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And-Ones: Salary Cap, Munford, Christmas, Barber

February 3rd, 2017 at 4:56pm CST by Milo Taibi

James Johnson and Taurean Prince have been fined $25K each after getting into a shoving match in Thursday’s match-up between the Hawks and Heat. According to the league’s official website, Prince was assessed the fine for “forcefully pulling down” Hassan Whiteside, and Johnson was penalized for escalating the situation by throwing an elbow at Prince. In a show of appreciation for his teammate’s loyalty, Whiteside told Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald he would pay Johnson’s $25K fine.

Other notes from around the league…

  • The NBA has reduced its salary cap estimate from $103MM to $102MM for the 2017/18 season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports. Additionally, the luxury line is projected for $122MM; an increase from this season’s $113.287MM.
  • Xavier Munford agreed to terms with FC Barcelona, according to Fersu Yahyabeyoglou of Euro Basket. After starting 2016/17 with the D-League’s Greensboro Swarm, Munford will spend the rest of the season in Barcelona. Munford averaged 5.7 points through 14 games with the Grizzlies last year.
  • Italian professional basketball team Vuelle Pesaro is targeting Dionte Christmas, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. A former Temple Owls standout, Christmas made NBA appearances with the Pelicans and Suns in 2013/14.
  • Sacramento’s D-League affiliate, The Reno Bighorns, claimed Jaleel Cousins out of the available player pool, according to the team’s official website. Jaleel is the brother of Kings center DeMarcus Cousins. This will be Cousins’ second D-League team in 2016/17, having played in 15 games for the Texas Legends earlier this season.
  • The Delaware 87ers acquired Aaron Harrison from the Greensboro Swarm for Anthony “Cat” Barber and the rights to Sam Thompson, according to Keith Porter of Philly.com. While Barber has yet to make his NBA debut, Harrison has appeared in five games with the Hornets this season.

 

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Salary Cap Projected To Rise To $120MM By 2020

December 20th, 2016 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The National Basketball Players’ Association has informed agents that the league salary cap is projected to increase to $120MM in 2020, sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical. The NBA’s most recent evaluation of the 2020 cap suggested a rise to $118MM is likely, per Charania.

NBA salary cap projections can fluctuate significantly, particularly when figures are being calculated for several years in the future. Still, the most recent estimates from the league and the players’ union – in the wake of a tentative agreement on a new CBA – suggest that the cap is on track to increase substantially over the next several years. The 2016/17 cap is just over $94MM, with a $103MM figure projected for 2017/18.

When the NBA projected its cap for future seasons back in July, its estimate for the 2020/21 campaign was more modest. At the time, the league anticipated a $114MM cap, with a $139MM luxury tax threshold. According to Charania, the projected tax line for a $120MM cap in ’20/21 would be about $143MM.

As Charania details, a $120MM cap would result in maximum salaries of $42MM for top-tier players (35% of the cap), $36MM for the second tier (30%), and $30MM for the third tier (25%). Additionally, under the new CBA, minimum salaries, rookie salaries, and mid-level exceptions will be tied to the salary cap – rather than getting fixed annual increases – so those figures are all on track to increase significantly as well.

While it’s too far away to know exactly which teams will benefit from the increasing cap projections, it’s safe to say that teams with multiple stars, such as the Warriors, will have a better chance to keep their rosters together and avoid going deep into the luxury tax if the cap continues to grow rapidly.

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Latest On How New CBA Will Affect Trades, Extensions

December 19th, 2016 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

Details on the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement continue to trickle out, and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders passes along a particularly interesting nugget this morning. According to Pincus, the term sheet for the new CBA suggests that a player who signs a deal under the new agreement will only have the guaranteed portion of his contract used for salary-matching purposes in a trade.

As an example, Pincus points to Arron Afflalo, whose $12.5MM salary in 2017/18 is only guaranteed for $1.5MM. Afflalo won’t be directly affected by this change, since his contract was signed under the previous CBA, but going forward, it will impact players who sign similar deals. Based on the new CBA rules, that salary would count for just $1.5MM in a trade, rather than $12.5MM. The change should help deter teams from acquiring players on non-guaranteed salaries and then immediately waiving them to cut costs.

Pincus also shares several more details on the new CBA, so we’ve rounded up some of the highlights below. As usual, these details are part of the tentative agreement, but that agreement has yet to be formally ratified, so it’s subject to change. Be sure to check out Pincus’ full article for more info.

Contract extensions:

  • Under the previous CBA, a veteran became extension-eligible if at least three years had passed since he signed a contract of four years or more. The new CBA will allow players to sign veteran extensions two years after they signed their previous deal, and three-year contracts will be eligible to be extended.
  • Designated player extensions can only be signed during the offseason, beginning on July 1, similar to rookie scale extensions. The salary in the first year of a designated player extension will be between 30-35% of the cap, and there will be language in the deal to potentially grandfather in players who signed extensions this past offseason, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo.
  • The criteria for the designated player extension for players coming off rookie contracts will be the same as for the veteran designated player extension. Those criteria relate to All-NBA, MVP, or Defensive Player of the Year awards, with All-Star starts no longer included.
  • The deadline for rookie scale extensions will be moved up to one day before the regular season begins. Previously, the deadline was October 31.

Suspensions:

  • A player who is suspended without pay will now be docked 1/145th of his salary per day, rather than 1/110th. However, suspensions of 20+ games will still result in a player losing 1/110th of his salary per day.
  • A player who tests positive for a steroid or performance-enhancing drug will be suspended 25 games if he’s a first-time offender, and 55 games if he’s a second-time offender.

Salary cap:

  • The NBA will determine the salary cap for a given league year before the July moratorium gets underway, rather than calculating it during the moratorium.
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And-Ones: Dragic, Pelicans, Salary Cap, Brown

October 20th, 2016 at 9:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told point guard Goran Dragic during a morning shootaround Thursday that rumors regarding a potential trade to the Kings were untrue, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Miami was reportedly discussing a deal in which Dragic would head to Sacramento in exchange for forward Rudy Gay and guard Darren Collison. “Spo came over and did that today,” Dragic told Winderman. “He just said those rumors, they’re not true.” Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald confirms that the Heat are not pursuing such a trade at the moment but might go after Gay in free agency next summer as a secondary option (Twitter link).
In other developments around the league:
  • E’Twaun Moore will start for the Pelicans at shooting guard entering the season ahead of lottery pick Buddy Hield, John Reid of the New Orleans Times-Picayune tweets. Moore was one of the first unrestricted free agents to make a commitment in July, agreeing to a four-year, $34MM contract after playing a backup role with the Bulls.
  • The projected salary cap for the 2017/18 season has been slightly raised from $102MM to $103MM, sources told Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That will give teams a little bit more elbow room as they make roster decisions.
  • Shannon Brown has signed with the NBA D-League and will be eligible for its draft, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets. The 30-year-old guard last appeared in the NBA in 2014/15, when he played five games for the Heat.
  • Swingman Jordan Hamilton has left the Turkish team Tofas Bursa after just one game, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. Hamilton appeared in 11 games with the Pelicans last season. A former first-round pick, Hamilton spent his first few NBA seasons with the Nuggets, but has bounced around since 2014, spending time with the Rockets and Clippers as well as the Pelicans.
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NBA’s 2017/18 Cap Projection Dips To $102MM

July 7th, 2016 at 10:46am CST by Luke Adams

A cap increase of more than $24MM+ this offseason has led to unprecedented spending around the NBA. However, that spending spree has contributed to lowering the league’s salary cap projection for the 2017/18 season. According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the ’17/18 cap, previously projected to be in the $107MM range, is now expected to be closer to $102MM.

As Pincus explains, the cap had originally been projected to reach $107MM due to an expectation that the league would fall short of its required obligation to the players next year by about $375MM. However, after a week-long free agency frenzy, that projected shortfall has been reduced to $200MM. Because the league is no longer expected to owe the players so much money, the projected salary cap figure has been reduced along with the projected shortfall.

Plenty can change between now and next summer, so that $102MM projection is hardly set in stone. At this time a year ago, the NBA didn’t anticipate a $94MM+ salary cap for 2016/17. Still, it’s a somewhat worrisome development for teams hoping to create maximum-salary slots next summer, and players hoping to land huge deals.

Here are the NBA’s current salary cap projections for the next several seasons, via Pincus:

  • 2017/18:
    • Cap: $102MM
    • Tax: $122MM
  • 2018/19:
    • Cap: $108MM
    • Tax: $130MM
  • 2019/20:
    • Cap: $109MM
    • Tax: $132MM
  • 2020/21:
    • Cap: $114MM
    • Tax: $139MM

As Pincus outlines, the starting maximum salaries on a $102MM cap would work out to about $24MM for players with less than seven years of experience, $28.8MM for players with seven to nine years of experience, and $33.5MM for those with 10+ years of experience.

Of course, the opt-out date for the NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement is looming — either the league or the players’ union can opt out of the agreement by December 15. If the CBA is renegotiated significantly before the summer of 2017, it’s possible the ’17/18 cap will look quite different than what today’s projections suggest.

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NBA Taxpaying Teams For 2015/16

July 3rd, 2016 at 1:49am CST by Luke Adams

With the salary cap set for the new league year, the NBA has finalized its luxury-tax calculations for the 2015/16 season, and the champion Cavaliers will be on the hook for a hefty bill. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, owner Dan Gilbert and the Cavs, having spent well beyond the luxury-tax threshold last season, owe a tax payment of $54MM.

Here’s the complete list of taxpaying teams for the 2015/16 season, per Stein:

  • Cleveland Cavaliers: $54MM
  • Los Angeles Clippers: $19.9MM
  • Golden State Warriors: $14.8MM
  • Oklahoma City Thunder $14.5MM
  • Houston Rockets: $4.9MM
  • San Antonio Spurs: $4.9MM
  • Chicago Bulls: $4.2MM

The tax payments owed by those seven teams total nearly $120MM, and according to Stein, half of that money will be used to fund the NBA’s revenue-sharing program. The other half will be split up equally among the league’s 23 non-taxpaying teams, with each franchise receiving about $2.5MM.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Trail Blazers and Magic were the only teams to fall short of the $63MM floor, per Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). They’ll have to make up the difference by cutting checks to the players who finished the season on their respective rosters.

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NBA Sets 2016/17 Salary Cap At $94.143MM

July 2nd, 2016 at 5:58pm CST by Will Joseph

The NBA has set the salary cap for the 2016/17 season at $94.143MM, as announced in a press release.

The luxury tax line is at $113.287MM. The salary cap for the 2015/16 season was set at $70MM, making this the biggest single-year jump in league history, as noted by Real GM. It’s nearly a 35% increase over last year’s cap, which is worth considering when evaluating this summer’s free agent contracts.

The minimum team salary – or the “salary floor” – is set at 90% of the cap, which amounts to $84.729MM. The non-taxpayer mid-level is set for $5.628MM, the taxpayer mid-level is set at $3.477MM and the room mid-level is set at $2.898MM.

According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link), the starting salaries for maximum-salary contracts will look like this:

  • Players with 0-6 years of experience: $22,116,750
  • Players with 7-9 years of experience: $26,540,100
  • Players with 10+ years of experience: $30,963,450
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NBA Salary Cap Projection Increases To $94MM

June 17th, 2016 at 3:57pm CST by Luke Adams

For the past few months, we’ve been operating under the assumption that the NBA’s salary cap will increase to about $92MM for the 2016/17 season. However, it appears the cap will end up making an even larger jump from this year’s $70MM. According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, the NBA has informed teams that the projected salary cap will rise to $94MM, with the projected tax cutoff increasing to $113MM.

The actual salary cap for 2016/17 won’t be officially confirmed until July, so the latest projected figure remains just that — a projection. Still, the fact that the league is already informing teams of that $94MM figure suggests that the cap should end up in that neighborhood.

A difference of $2MM for the projected ’16/17 cap won’t make a major difference for most teams, but it could benefit clubs looking to carve out cap room for a max salary. Getting an extra couple million dollars in breathing room could allow clubs to keep a low-priced player and still land a coveted free agent, rather than having to jettison that incumbent player to make room.

Of course, with the cap increasing, projected max salaries will increase as well. The max salary projections for a $92MM cap were $21.6MM for players with six or fewer years of experience, $25.9MM for players with between seven and nine years of experience, and $30.3MM for veterans of 10 or more seasons.

A $94MM cap would increase those figures by a few hundred thousand dollars apiece, to $22MM, $26.4MM, and $30.8MM, respectively, according to Charania. Larry Coon’s max salary projections (via Twitter) are each $200K higher ($22.2MM, $26.6MM, and $31MM).

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And-Ones: Salary Shortfall, Maker, Isaac, Diversity

April 16th, 2016 at 5:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

An NBA memo says teams had an estimated $93MM shortfall in player salaries this season, writes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, players must receive 49% to 51% of basketball-related income. The league will finalize a full audit of revenue and expenses in July to determine the exact amount they will receive. The memo projects a $375MM shortfall for next season, which averages about $12.5MM per team. Also for next season, the league expects a $92MM salary cap and a $111MM luxury tax threshold. The salary floor, which is the 90% of the cap that teams are obligated to pay to players, would be set at $82.8MM. For 2017/18, the salary cap is expected to be $107MM with the luxury tax threshold set at $127MM. Seven teams are expected to pay $121MM in luxury taxes this season, with half of that earmarked for the revenue-sharing plan. The other half will be split by franchises under the $84.7MM tax threshold, giving them approximately $2.6MM per team.

There’s more from the basketball world:

  • The loophole that allowed Thon Maker to become eligible for this year’s draft may inspire future prospects to try the same thing, writes Jeff Eisenberg of The Dagger. Maker, 19, qualified for the draft because he graduated from high school in Canada in 2015, meeting both the age requirement and the rule that a year must have passed since a player’s graduating class.
  • Jonathan Isaac, who will be a freshman at Florida State in the fall, is no longer looking at this year’s draft, relays Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The 6’10” power forward worked out for NBA scouts this week, but is focused on playing for the Seminoles. There were reports in February that Isaac was thinking of trying to go straight to the NBA from IMG Academy. He is 19 and is a year beyond his graduating class, but he wouldn’t be draft-eligible because he doesn’t have a diploma. Isaac is ranked 13th in the 2017 mock draft by DraftExpress.
  • Front-office diversity was among the topics addressed at the NBA board of governors meeting this week, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Oris Stuart, the league’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, made a presentation on the benefits of diversity in management. The league is putting together a Basketball Operations Associates Program for ex-players and others who want to pursue front-office careers.
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And-Ones: Salary Cap, Draft, Jersey Ads

April 15th, 2016 at 4:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Croatian power forward Marko Arapovic will enter this year’s NBA draft, as he announced on Twitter, and the same is true for Slovenian shooting guard Blaz Mesicek, as his agent, Benjamin Stevic, told Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Both hold a degree of intrigue, with Givony having slotted the 6’6″, 18-year-old Mesicek at No. 32 in his 2017 mock draft, though he’s not in Givony’s top 100 prospects for this year. The 6’9″, 19-year-old Arapovic is 96th among this year’s prospects, as Givony ranks them, and he’s No. 100 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. International prospects aren’t bound to NCAA rules, so they can hire agents and withdraw from the draft as late as June 13th.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • The latest official projection for next year’s salary cap is $92MM, according to a memo the NBA sent to executives around the league, notes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link). That’s an increase on the $90MM projection reported in February, though many had already estimated the cap would wind up in the $92MM to $95MM range.
  • Owners sense the league is prosperous and the collective bargaining agreement is working, commissioner Adam Silver said today about this week’s board of governors meetings, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com relays (Twitter link). Silver remains optimistic about avoiding a work stoppage next year as negotiations with the players union progress toward a new labor deal, tweets Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
  • The addition of jersey ads, which the board of governors have formally approved for the start of the 2017/18 season, are liable to raise the salary cap $2MM to $3MM annually based on projections circulating around the league, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). Silver estimates the ads will generate $100MM in annual revenue, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
  • French power forward/center Mathias Lessort intends to enter the 2016 NBA draft, YouFirstBasket.com announced (via Twitter). The 20-year-old is a long shot to be selected, not appearing among the top 100 players on either Ford’s or Givony’s rankings.
  • Vanderbilt junior center Damian Jones intends to enter the draft and will sign with Austin Brown of CAA, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com relays (Twitter links). Jones is ranked as the No. 21 overall prospect by Givony and comes in at No. 43 according to Ford. Jones has long planned to go into the draft this year, having said as much in October.
  • Former Pelicans big man Jarnell Stokes was named the MVP of the NBA D-League, the Sioux Falls Skyforce announced. In 28 D-League appearances, Stokes averaged 20.6 points and 9.3 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per contest.
  • Wichita State senior shooting guard Ron Baker has signed with agent Aaron Mintz of CAA, Goodman tweets. The 23-year-old is the No. 98 overall prospect in this year’s draft according to Givony.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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