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Kobe Bryant will earn more than $30MM this season, a salary that’s by far the NBA’s largest in 2013/14. Still, he’s not a member of the exclusive club of players signed to $100MM+ deals. Only five guys are currently on deals that include more than $100MM in base salary, including Chris Paul, who joined the club with his new max deal in July.

LeBron James is fittingly a part of the club, along with the other two members of the Heat’s power trio. Still, none of them touch Joe Johnson‘s staggering $123,658,089 contract that he signed under the old collective bargaining agreement, which allowed for six-year deals. That’s not a bad take for a player who’s only appeared on one All-NBA team during his 12-year career.

Johnson’s teammate Deron Williams ($98,772,325) and fellow New Yorker Amar’e Stoudemire ($99,743,996) fall just beneath the threshold. If Paul George and John Wall qualify for the 30% max on their recently signed extensions, they’ll likely fall a few million dollars shy of the nine-figure mark, too, barring a unforeseen jump in maximum salaries next July.

Here’s the complete $100MM+ club, as it stands now:

• Joe Johnson, Nets ($123,658,089) — re-signed with the Hawks in 2010 to a six-year contract for the max.
• Chris Bosh, Heat ($109,837,500) — signed-and-traded to the Heat in 2010 to a six-year contract.
• LeBron James, Heat ($109,837,500) — signed-and-traded to the Heat in 2010 to a six-year contract.
• Dwyane Wade, Heat ($107,565,000) — re-signed with the Heat in 2010 to a six-year contract.
• Chris Paul, Clippers ($107,343,475) — re-signed with the Clippers in July to a five-year contract for the max.

ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.

We looked awhile back at the players who will make the highest salaries for their respective teams this season, but that post didn’t include the context of the money teams have committed beyond next summer. Large contracts that only cover one season are often highly coveted trade commodities in the NBA, but lucrative, long-term deals are often the most difficult to move.

A glance at each team’s largest salary commitment reveals a mix of franchise players and deals that have become albatrosses for front office executives. Derrick Rose is the face of the Bulls, and as long as he doesn’t suffer another devastating injury, the nearly $78MM he’ll make over the next four seasons won’t hurt the team. Amar’e Stoudemire is a role player for the Knicks these days, but no one on the team is due more money than he is.

There are plenty of oddities on this list. The Lakers have only four contracts that run past this season, so their largest commitment is Kobe Bryant‘s massive $30MM+ expiring contract. The Jazz have a few more deals that extend beyond this summer, but none of them add up to more than the $11,046,000 that Richard Jefferson will make in the final season of his contract this year. Chris Bosh and LeBron James have option clauses in their deals that will allow them to leave the Heat next summer, but in the meantime they share the designation as the Heat’s largest salary commitment, having signed identical contracts in 2010. Arron Afflalo of the Sixers and Goran Dragic of the Suns are due $22.5MM apiece from their respective teams, making them each club’s most sizable commitment.

The Pacers, Kings and Wizards handed out maximum-salary extensions this offseason, and because those maximums won’t be known until next summer, we don’t know exactly what Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall will be making. In the meantime, It’s safe to assume that each of them represents his team’s largest salary commitment, and the salary figures listed for them below are estimates based on this year’s maximum salary. The rookie scale extension deadline is less than three weeks away, so a few players whose names aren’t found here might wind up as their team’s most expensive commitment by opening night.

This list doesn’t include non-guaranteed money or team option years, since clubs aren’t truly committed to that salary. It does include player and early-termination options, and they’re noted where applicable.

• Atlanta Hawks: Al Horford, $36MM through 2015/16
• Boston Celtics: Gerald Wallace, $30,317,565 through 2015/16
• Brooklyn Nets: Deron Williams, $81,594,530 through 2016/17 (final season is ETO)
• Charlotte Bobcats: Al Jefferson, $40.5MM through 2015/16 (final season is player option)
• Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose, $77,911,880 through 2016/17
• Cleveland Cavaliers: Jarrett Jack, $19.4MM through 2016/17 (doesn’t include  $5.8MM in non-guaranteed money)
• Dallas Mavericks: Jose Calderon, $29MM through 2016/17
• Denver Nuggets: Ty Lawson, $48MM through 2016/17
• Detroit Pistons: Josh Smith, $54MM through 2016/17
• Golden State Warriors: Andre Iguodala, $48MM through 2016/17
• Houston Rockets: Dwight Howard, $87,591,270 through 2016/17 (final season is player option)
• Indiana Pacers: Roy Hibbert, $82,064,191 through 2018/19 (estimate; actual value of recently signed extension won’t be known until next summer)
• Los Angeles Clippers: Chris Paul, $107,343,475 through 2017/18 (final season is ETO)
• Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant, $30,453,805 through 2013/14
• Memphis Grizzlies: Zach Randolph, $35,176,666 through 2014/15 (final season is player option)
• Miami Heat: Chris Bosh and LeBron James (tie), $61,770,000 through 2015/16 (2014/15 is ETO, 2015/16 is player option)
• Milwaukee Bucks: Larry Sanders, $47,053,368 through 2017/18
• Minnesota Timberwolves: Nikola Pekovic, $60MM through 2017/18
• New Orleans Pelicans: Eric Gordon, $44,696,813 through 2015/16 (final season is player option)
• New York Knicks: Amar’e Stoudemire, $45,090,881 through 2014/15 (final season is ETO)
• Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell Westbrook, $64,926,562 through 2016/17
• Orlando Magic: Arron Afflalo, $22.5MM through 2015/16 (final season is player option)
• Philadelphia 76ers: Thaddeus Young, $28,232,608 through 2015/16 (final season is ETO)
• Phoenix Suns, Goran Dragic, $22.5MM through 2015/16 (final season is player option)
• Portland Trail Blazers: Nicolas Batum, $35,296,500 through 2015/16
• Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins, $65,887,537 through 2017/18 (estimate; actual value of recently signed extension won’t be known until next summer)
• San Antonio Spurs: Tiago Splitter, $36MM through 2016/17
• Toronto Raptors: DeMar DeRozan, $38MM through 2016/17
• Utah Jazz: Richard Jefferson, $11,046,000 through 2013/14
• Washington Wizards: John Wall, $86,242,113 through 2018/19 (estimate; actual value of recently signed extension won’t be known until next summer)

ShamSports was used in the creation of this post.

As I’ve outlined before, the Collective Bargaining Agreement allows NBA teams to carry up to 20 players during the offseason, a rule that many clubs have taken advantage of this fall. However, teams must reduce their rosters to 15 players in time for opening night, meaning several dozen players currently on NBA rosters will be looking for work by the end of the month.

Currently, by our count, the league’s 30 teams are carrying a total of 538 players. Taking into account all the roster moves happening this month, that number is in flux, and will likely change by the end of the day. But considering a maximum of 450 players can be on NBA rosters during the regular season, that current figure means that at least 88 players will be cut within the next two or three weeks.

Of course, some NBA teams won’t carry a full 15-man roster into the regular season. Considering the 14th and 15th players on rosters rarely see the court (except perhaps in the D-League), it’s no surprise that not every club wants to carry the maximum. Teams are required to carry at least 13 players, but some front offices prefer to keep a spot or two open, either to save some money or to create additional flexibility. That means those 88 cuts to come represent the minimum — the actual number could easily end up exceeding 100.

Every year, there are a handful of surprising names released before the season begins, but for the most part, the players waived will be camp invitees or guys owed little or no guaranteed money. As our list of NBA roster counts shows, only the Suns currently have more than 15 fully guaranteed contracts, so most teams shouldn’t be on the hook for much money owed to released players.

Here are a few more things to consider as the deadline for 15-man rosters approaches:

• The Sixers, Trail Blazers, and Warriors are believed to be carrying more than 15 contracts that are either fully or partially guaranteed. So, barring any trades, those clubs will have to eat at least a little salary when they make cuts.
• The Bulls and Pistons are currently the only teams with 15 or fewer players on their respective rosters, so they won’t necessarily need to make any moves. I’d expect the tax-conscious Bulls to start the season with just 13 or 14 players though.
• The Sixers, Cavs, Hawks, Heat, Jazz, Knicks, and Mavericks are all at the preseason 20-man limit, so those clubs still have to waive at least five players.
• As noted above, players on non-guaranteed contracts are the most likely candidates to be released this month. You can check out our complete list of partially guaranteed and non-guaranteed players right here.

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The unprecedented head coaching turnover this summer overshadowed the five executives who took over day-to-day basketball operations since the 2012/13 regular season came to a close. Technically, there's six such execs, since the Knicks replaced Glen Grunwald with Steve Mills last week, but Mills hasn't had a chance to make any major moves. So, we'll focus on the five who have as we look back on the debut offseason for the league's new executives:

• Larry Bird, Pacers: Larry Legend returned to the Pacers after a one-year hiatus, and he jumped right into an active offseason. He re-signed free agent David West, made a trade for Luis Scola that was the centerpiece of the team's bench upgrade, and committed a max extension to Paul George. He's also decided against trading Danny Granger, at least so far, preferring to hold on to Granger's expiring contract as the Pacers eye a title run.
• Pete D'Alessandro, Kings: Ben McLemore fell to Sacramento at the No. 7 pick in the draft, but the heavy lifting happened later in the offseason, when D'Alessandro traded former Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans for Greivis Vasquez and acquired Carl Landry and Luc Mbah a Moute. The most important decision might have come last month, when D'Alessandro and the Kings signed DeMarcus Cousins to a max extension.
• Doc Rivers, Clippers: The coach is also in charge of picking the players in Clipperland, but the most significant move the team made may have been acquiring Rivers in the first place, since it helped cinch the re-signing of Chris Paul to a max contract. Rivers reportedly professed affection for Eric Bledsoe, but he OK'd a three-way swap that sent Bledsoe to the Suns and brought J.J. Redick to the Clippers.
• Flip Saunders, Timberwolves: Former Wolves GM David Kahn was noted for his overemphasis on drafting point guards, and Saunders used another lottery pick on a point guard this summer. The difference is that Saunders traded point guard Trey Burke, the No. 9 overall pick, to the Jazz on draft night for Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, the 14th and 21st selections, respectively. Saunders focused on the wings, adding Kevin Martin and Corey Brewer and re-signing Chase Budinger before locking up restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic for five years.
• Masai Ujiri, Raptors: Ujiri quickly made his presence felt, trading Andrea Bargnani — whom previous GM Bryan Colangelo had selected No. 1 overall soon after assuming control of the team — to the Knicks. Tyler Hansbrough was the team's most significant offseason acquisition, so other than the Bargnani trade, Ujiri appears content to see how the team he inherited performs this season.
• Ryan McDonough, Suns: President of basketball operations Lon Babby remains in place, but McDonough had a hand in an offseason in which the team drafted Alex Len fifth overall, acquired Eric Bledsoe, and cut ties with Michael Beasley. There's plenty of work that remains to be done, and the long-term future of trade candidate Marcin Gortat is still unresolved.

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October's NBA transactions are dominated by training camp cuts, as the pair of players hitting waivers today demonstrate. Still, teams make the occasional trade this time of year, and sometimes those swaps are significant. Last year's James Harden trade is a case in point, and while few recent preseason deals have drawn as much attention, the ripple effects that many of them made have drastically changed the fortunes of teams around the league. Other trades from recent Octobers haven't had long-lasting impacts, but they still involved key members of their respective teams. Here's a look at several notable trades that have taken place between October 1st and opening night around the NBA since 2005, when the most recent former collective bargaining agreement took effect.

• October 27th, 2012: Thunder trade Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward to the Rockets for Jeremy Lamb, Kevin Martin, a 2013 first-round draft pick (Steven Adams), a future first-round draft pick and a future second-round draft pick — A salary dispute over an extension for Harden precipitated this trade, so perhaps we'll see one of this year's rookie-scale extension candidates change teams before the season begins.
• October 23rd, 2010: Trail Blazers trade Jerryd Bayless to the Hornets for a 2011 first-round draft pick (Tobias Harris) — Bayless has always been a valuable bench piece, but Harris is showing signs of being more than that for the Magic, one of several teams to hold his rights in one form or another since the Bayless deal.
• October 24th, 2007: Timberwolves trade Ricky Davis and Mark Blount to the Heat for Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien, Antoine Walker and a 2009 first-round draft pick (Ty Lawson) — Davis' best days were behind him, but the gem of this trade was the future draft selection. Minnesota later traded Lawson's rights to Denver, where he's turned into perhaps the best player on the Nuggets.
• October 26th, 2005: Hornets trade Jamaal Magloire to the Bucks for Desmond Mason and a 2006 first-round draft pick (Cedric Simmons) — They're largely forgotten about now, but Magloire and Mason played significant roles, both appearing primarily as starters for their respective teams in the season prior to the trade as well as the one after it. Magloire was just a year and a half removed from playing in the 2004 All-Star Game.
• October 4th, 2005: Bulls trade Eddy Curry, Antonio Davis and a 2007 first-round draft pick (Wilson Chandler) to the Knicks for Jermaine Jackson, Mike Sweetney, Tim Thomas, a 2006 first-round draft pick (LaMarcus Aldridge), a 2007 first-round draft pick (Joakim Noah), a 2007 second-round draft pick (Kyrylo Fesenko) and a 2009 second-round draft pick (Jon Brockman) — This was the most significant preseason swap until the Harden trade, and perhaps this one had an even greater effect. Curry, just like Harden, wound up with a lucrative deal as a result of the swap, receiving the six-year, $60MM contract from the Knicks that shortly thereafter turned him into perhaps the most overpaid player in the league. The Bulls got back their center of the future in the draft pick they used on Noah, and they could have used this deal to form an imposing frontcourt if they didn't wind up trading Aldridge to the Blazers on draft night.
• October 4th, 2005: Raptors trade Rafer Alston to the Rockets for Mike James — The Rockets and Raptors swapped point guards, and both took over as starters for their new teams. 

RealGM.com and Basketball-Reference.com were used in the creation of this post.

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October 31st represents the deadline for players entering the fourth year of rookie-scale contracts to sign extensions, but that’s not the only piece of business NBA teams must address by Halloween. Clubs also have to decide whether to exercise or decline 2014/15 options for rookie-scale players heading into their second or third NBA seasons.

The players listed below are already on guaranteed contracts with their respective teams for the 2013/14 season, but only have team options for 2014/15. These players’ clubs must decide by Halloween whether to lock them up for ’14/15 for the contract amount indicated in parentheses, or to let them become unrestricted free agents next summer. As Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors wrote in September, many of these guys are locks to have their options picked up, but that’s not the case for all of them.

That October 31st deadline is still several weeks away, and many of the decisions on these players won’t become official until much closer to that date, but we’ll be tracking every decision right here for the rest of the month. You can find our rookie contract 2014/15 option tracker anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features.” Here’s the list to date, with updates to come as decisions are announced:

76ers

• Arnett Moultrie (3rd year, $1,136,160) – Exercised
• Royce White (3rd year, $1,793,520) – Waived
• Tony Wroten (3rd year, $1,210,080) – Exercised

Bobcats

• Bismack Biyombo (4th year, $3,873,398) – Exercised
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (3rd year, $5,016,960) – Exercised
• Kemba Walker (4th year, $3,272,091) – Exercised

Bucks

• John Henson (3rd year, $1,987,320) – Exercised
• Brandon Knight (4th year, $3,553,917) – Exercised

Bulls

• Jimmy Butler (4th year, $2,008,748) – Exercised
• Marquis Teague (3rd year, $1,120,920) – Exercised

Cavaliers

• Kyrie Irving (4th year, $7,070,730) – Exercised
• Tristan Thompson (4th year, $5,138,430) – Exercised
• Dion Waiters (3rd year, $4,062,000) – Exercised
• Tyler Zeller (3rd year, $1,703,760) – Exercised

Celtics

• MarShon Brooks (4th year, $2,179,354) – Declined
• Jared Sullinger (3rd year, $1,424,520) – Exercised

Hawks

• Jared Cunningham (3rd year, $1,260,360) – Declined
• John Jenkins (3rd year, $1,312,920) – Exercised

Heat

• Norris Cole (4th year, $2,038,206) – Exercised

Jazz

• Alec Burks (4th year, $3,034,356) – Exercised
• Enes Kanter (4th year, $5,694,674) – Exercised

Kings

• Jimmer Fredette (4th year, $3,110,796) – Declined

Knicks

• Iman Shumpert (4th year, $2,616,975) – Exercised

Magic

• Maurice Harkless (3rd year, $1,887,840) – Exercised
• Tobias Harris (4th year, $2,380,594) – Exercised
• Andrew Nicholson (3rd year, $1,545,840) – Exercised
• Nikola Vucevic (4th year, $2,751,260) – Exercised

Nuggets

• Kenneth Faried (4th year, $2,249,768) – Exercised
• Evan Fournier (3rd year, $1,483,920) – Exercised
• Jordan Hamilton (4th year, $2,109,294) – Declined

Pelicans

• Anthony Davis (3rd year, $5,607,240) – Exercised
• Austin Rivers (3rd year, $2,439,840) – Exercised

Pistons

• Andre Drummond (3rd year, $2,568,360) – Exercised

Raptors

• Terrence Ross (3rd year, $2,793,960) – Exercised
• Jonas Valanciunas (3rd year, $3,678,360) – Exercised

Rockets

• Terrence Jones (3rd year, $1,618,680) – Exercised
• Donatas Motiejunas (3rd year, $1,483,920) – Exercised

Spurs

• Cory Joseph (4th year, $2,023,261) — Exercised
• Kawhi Leonard (4th year, $2,894,059) — Exercised

Suns

• Marcus Morris (4th year, $2,943,221) – Exercised
• Markieff Morris (4th year, $2,989,239) – Exercised
• Miles Plumlee (3rd year, $1,169,880) – Exercised

Thunder

• Reggie Jackson (4th year, $2,204,370) – Exercised
• Perry Jones III (3rd year, $1,129,200) – Exercised
• Jeremy Lamb (3rd year, $2,202,000) – Exercised

Timberwolves

• Ricky Rubio (4th year, $5,070,686) – Exercised
• Derrick Williams (4th year, $6,331,404) – Exercised

Trail Blazers

• Meyers Leonard (3rd year, $2,317,920) – Exercised
• Damian Lillard (3rd year, $3,340,920) – Exercised
• Thomas Robinson (3rd year, $3,678,360) – Exercised

Warriors

• Harrison Barnes (3rd year, $3,049,920) – Exercised
• Festus Ezeli (3rd year, $1,112,880) – Exercised
• Klay Thompson (4th year, $3,075,880) – Exercised

Wizards

• Bradley Beal (3rd year, $4,505,280) – Exercised
• Kendall Marshall (3rd year, $2,091,840) – Waived
• Chris Singleton (4th year, $2,489,530) – Declined
• Jan Vesely (4th year, $4,236,287) – Declined

Storytellers Contracts was used in the creation of this post.

As we've outlined before, there are a number of different ways to follow Hoops Rumors via Facebook, Twitter, and RSS. If you don't want to follow all the site's updates, you can subscribe to team-specific or transaction-only Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds. Although we don't have Facebook pages or Twitter feeds for specific players, you can also easily follow all our updates on your favorite player.

If, for instance, you want to keep track of all the latest news and rumors on LeBron James as he enters a potential contract year, you can visit this page. If you're interested in keeping tabs on contract extension talks between the Jazz and Derrick Favors, you can find Favors' page right here.

Every player we've written about has his own rumors page. You can find your player of choice by using our search box (located in the right sidebar); by clicking his tag at the bottom of a post where he's discussed; or, by simply typing his name in your address bar after hoopsrumors.com, substituting dashes for spaces. For example, LeBron's page is located at hoopsrumors.com/lebron-james.

In addition to players and teams, there are a number of other subjects you can track by clicking on the tags we use at the bottom of posts. Items related to the NBA D-League, for instance, can be found on this rumors page. If you want to follow early updates on the 2014 NBA draft, those are all available here.

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