I guess it's that time of year already! I typically make this post after the NBA draft, but now that deals started pouring in over the weekend, I'm starting now and will just add draft day moves in here.
This will be constantly updated throughout the summer, so I'll be adding the latest news at the top to be readily available upon revisiting the page instead of always having to scroll down. Or in other words, it goes in chronological order from the bottom up.
As usual, players already under contract have their figures listed based on Keith Smith's work at Spotrac.com while salaries in bold italics are my own estimates based on reported numbers and the standard 5% or 8% raises that the teams could give. Salaries are also color coded if they are a player option, a team option, not fully guaranteed, or a "mutual option" (a player option that's not fully guaranteed) based on the reporting, with parentheses to credit whoever broke the news and when.
6/30 update: The NBA officially announced that the salary cap for this season is $164,961,000, which is slightly lower than the $165 million that was projected. The luxury tax line, First Apron, and Second Apron are subsequently $200,428,000, $209,015,000, and $221,686,000, respectively.
That means these are the maximum starting salaries and total possible contracts based on years of experience:
- 6 or fewer years (25% of the cap): $41,240,250 for up to 4 years, $177,333,075 with a new team or 5 years, $239,193,450 with their previous team.
- 7-9 years (30%): $49,488,300 for up to 4 years, $212,799,690 with a new team or 5 years, $287,032,140 with their previous team.
- 10+ years (35%): $57,736,350 for up to 4 years, $248,266,305 with a new team or 5 years, $334,870,830 with their previous team.
And the amount available for the various exceptions can go up to the following starting salaries and totals:
- Full Mid-Level Exception (MLE): $15,044,000 for up to 4 years, $64,689,200
- Taxpayer MLE: $6,064,000 for up to 2 years, $12,431,200
- Room Mid-Level Exception: $9,366,000 for up to 3 years, $29,502,900
- Bi-Annual Exception: $5,477,000 for up to 2 years, $11,227,850 (can only be used every other year)
- Minimum Exception: a $2,449,421 cap hit, aka the minimum for players with two years of experience, as long as it's a one year deal. The league subsidizes the cap hit and pays the difference between that and their actual salary that they earn based on years of experience.
Now back to the deals:
Clarkson re-signs with the Knicks: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/9)
Bamba re-signs with the Jazz: 2 years, likely minimum contract (Shams 7/8)
Another deal with no financials reported by Shams, so I'm going with the minimum like Bamba has had to play on in recent times, including 10-days after being multiple times. Because the 28 year old is signing a multiyear deal instead of a one year minimum, his cap hit will count for his full salary. Utah has plenty of room under the tax line to absorb that difference, and I'm willing to bet that the second year is a team option and/or non-guaranteed and added purely for potential trades next year.
Nance signs with the Pacers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/8)
Update: Tony East reports that Potter will indeed be the roster casualty. He doesn't have a ton of size but has always had a nice DReb% to go with being a 38.9% career three point shooter, mostly from last year as the largest sample of his career. The 28 year old could be a sneaky waiver claim on the minimum.
Dallas sign-and-trades Middleton to complete massive six-team trade (Shams 7/7)
Mavericks receive: $22,206,026 total in; projected $8,824,422 out
Pistons receive: projected $23,822,198 total in; $35,008,183 out
2029 2nd round pick (Best of Bucks/Knicks/Pistons) via Grizzlies
2031 Mavericks 2nd round pick via Grizzlies
2032 2nd round pick (their own, returned) via Grizzlies
Grizzlies receive: $24,206,370 total in; $17,007,043 out
2030 Warriors 1st round pick (protected 1-20 before converting to a 2030 2nd) via Mavs
Bucks receive: $14,809,200 in; $7,631,722 out
2027 2nd round pick (their own, returned) via Pistons
2027 2nd round pick (Worse of Nets/Mavs) via Pistons
Cash considerations via Clippers
Wizards receive: projected $5,587,302 in; $5,969,250 out
2033 Mavericks 2nd round pick via Mavs
Clippers receive: $0 in; projected $16,190,476 out
Trade Exception
2028 2nd round pick (protected 31-55) via Pistons
What started as simple (and surprising) news of Middleton going back to Washington ended up as a move that will tie together a handful of previously agreed to trades as one huge transaction, including the one right below this. I'll add more details once they come, but I believe that I have the primary pieces above. I'll go team by team in an attempt to figure out the cap mechanics of things getting combined here.
The Mavs combining these moves allows them to preserve their $20,830,154 Trade Exception (from when they dealt Anthony Davis to these Wizards) that I thought they'd be using on Aldama. Sign-and-trading Middleton with a starting salary above $5.2 million gives them enough to aggregate with Johnson's $3.2 million to match Aldama's $17 million. Sasser can go into either their MLE or BAE, and I would guess that the former is being used both for this and on the contract for Biberovic here, as discussed earlier today. Or if they still have plans to use the ~$12 million left of the MLE, they could use the BAE on Sasser now instead of having it available next year.
As previously mentioned, Pistons going the sign-and-trade route with Collins means that they don't have to make other moves to create the cap space for him, and combining that with the Stewart deal from Day 2 of the draft made for simple salary matching. I think that looping it into the LeVert move from just an hour earlier creates an ever so slightly larger Trade Exception for Stewart's salary instead of LeVert's. It could in theory also preserve the TPE from Schroder's sign-and-trade for another move, but that's expiring today anyway. They'll also create a smaller TPE worth Sasser's salary.
The Grizzlies combining their Stewart and Aldama trades here preserves both their huge $28,872,920 Jaren Jackson Jr. TPE and smaller $4,313,989 Ja Morant TPE. Aldama's outgoing $17 million is enough to take in all three players' combined $24.2 million here, and they pick up some extra 2nd round draft capital by adding Russell's expiring contract to that previously reported deal. As a reminder, the three 2nd round picks that they're sending to Detroit are the exact same picks that they received from the Pistons on Day 1 of the draft in order to move from pick #17 to #21.
Nothing really changes here for the Bucks except that they get some cash from the Clippers since each team needs to "touch" at least two teams in a multi-team deal like this. It hasn't been reported yet whether that will be just the minimum amount required or not. There is something funny about them being involved again in a deal that moves their former star, Middleton, to Washington once more.
The Wizards also combined with the Mavs for another trade so soon after they first got Russell from them a few months ago in the AD trade with Middleton going the other way. Now after DLo never ended up playing for them, they're using some of their extra draft capital to replace his salary with the veteran wing to be a bench option and a nice locker room presence for their young core. Depending on the exact starting salary for Middleton, he could fit into the remainder of their Kelly Olynyk Trade Exception (that expires tomorrow) after using it in the Ayton trade below. Doing so would create a new TPE worth Russell's salary similar to the $6 million TPE create for Hardy in that trade.
It's still pretty simple for the Clippers: they're getting a protected 2nd rounder (likely a "fake" pick that's top-55 protected) and sending out some cash in order to create a Trade Exception worth Collins' starting salary. They were going to lose him in free agency anyway, so they're helping out here to add a potentially useful piece for later.
Update: Josh Robbins reports that the second year of Middleton's deal is only partially guaranteed and the third year is non-guaranteed. It's a similar situation to Collins' since sign-and-trade deals are required to be for contracts of at least three years, but only the first year needs to be guaranteed. I also made a slight update on my projection for his salary based on the remainder of their Olynyk TPE.
Smith and Siegel provided clarifying details about which specific 2nd round picks are involved, and I did not originally have the fact that Washington is getting what seems like one of the 2nd rounders from Dallas that was originally going to Memphis. The Grizz were reportedly getting two 2nd rounders from the Mavs at first, but now it's one from Dallas with one and a swap from Washington. The Wizards getting one back helps balance things for a more reasonable outlay on the Russell for Middleton swap, and it is somewhat of an interesting bet that they're seemingly sending out their own 2033 2nd for the Mavericks'.
Detroit salary dumps LeVert (Shams 7/7)
Bucks receive:
Pistons receive: $7,631,722 total
Despite both Harris and Prince being on minimum contracts, counting for their full salary due to being on two-year pacts from last summer means that they combine for enough to be a trade match for LeVert. That preserves both their MLE and the large Trade Exception that they have from the Antetokounmpo trade while Detroit can use the remaining $8.7 million of their Schroder TPE that was set to expire today. That way, the Pistons can create a new TPE worth the entirety of LeVert's salary, and the Bucks will create two small ones worth the salaries of Harris and Prince.
Milwaukee was severely lacking in 2nd rounders before this and had more guaranteed salaries than available roster spots, so this is a pretty helpful deal for them. Detroit wasn't necessarily in danger of hitting the luxury tax whenever they reach a deal with Duren, but this does give them an extra $7.2 million to work with while making that new TPE. They had a handful of extra 2nd rounders to use here and in the Joe trade, so it's not a terrible price to pay.
Looney signs with the Lakers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/7)
Biberovic to sign with the Mavericks: 2 years, $6 million (Stein 7/7)
Biberovic was only the 56th pick in 2023 as a 22 year old but has become one of the deadliest shooters in Europe ever since then to improve his stock to the point of earning this big of a first NBA contract. Still playing for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce, the 6'7" forward has hit 44.82% of his 4.5 threes per game in only 21.9 minutes over these past three years. Now at age 25 he will be exercising the $2 million buyout in his contract there to come stateside and sign this deal once the trade between Dallas and Memphis becomes official.
The focus of that trade was understandably on Aldama, but Stein and Fischer previously noted how multiple teams were interested in trading for Biberovic's draft rights. With the Mavs getting him in that package, they can contribute $900K to his buyout (the most allowable) on top of this deal, and I am projecting a flat structure to give him more up front for that, as well. Having the second year as a team option puts the risk on the player's side, but if things work out, you could see Dallas declining that option in order to signer a new deal for longer team control with more guaranteed money. Going with just two years here also means that they could use the BAE for this deal in case they have other plans for the MLE; otherwise this will probably just come out of the latter in order to preserve the BAE for next year.
Mitchell extends with the Cavaliers: 4 years, $273 million (Shams 7/7)
Hachimura signs with the Clippers: 2 years, $28 million (Shams 7/6)
Post signs offer sheet with the Grizzlies: 3 years, "$30 million" (Shams 7/6)
After re-signing Melton triggered the Second Apron, the Warriors only have to worry about that as a hard-cap for now and are around $39 million below it. Their pursuit of LeBron James would likely require the full MLE that would limit them to the First Apron, though, and that would make things pretty tight, with a secondary move to shed salary lined up if needed, per Stein and Fischer. Draymond Green declined his $27,678,571 player option in order to give them some financial flexibility to potentially sign his friend, but he he still needs to be made whole in some way before filling out the roster with a few more signings.
With both Porzingis and Horford back, it seems unlikely that they will match this offer sheet, even though they'll probably need another reliable center given the availability concerns of those two. One has to wonder whether they could have declined the $1,955,377 team option that they held on him a year ago in order to sign him to a longer deal like we see so often across the league, but it's hard to say whether that was possible from the player side or with their Second Apron concerns during the Kuminga restricted free agency saga.
Update: Fischer reports that only the first season is guaranteed, and Memphis included incentives if Post makes an All-Defense Team. Since he didn't make one last season, those are considered unlikely and don't count against the cap, but all incentives count against the aprons, which makes this a sneaky detail in the deal to try to make it even more unlikely that Golden State matches the offer sheet.
7/7 update: As expected, the Warriors chose not to match the offer sheet, so Post is now a Grizzly. Slater also reports that while the deal is slightly front-loaded like I expected, it's only for $9 million guaranteed (the first year) with the other two years coming in at $8.5 million, which means that the original "$30 million" report was including the unlikely incentives. It's really more of a $26 million deal with $9 million gauranteed, so I updated the figures above.
