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:
DeRozan signs with the Nuggets: one year, minimum contract (Haynes first, Shams the details 8/21)
Thompson to sign with the Heat: two years, "nearly $13 million" (Shams 8/21)
Thompson needs to officially clear waivers after his buyout with the Mavericks, but there's basically no chance any team claims his $17,460,317 contract. Given Miami's hard cap at the First Apron, I expected this to be a minimum contract, which would have been for $3,876,529, but the four-time champion is instead getting what I'm projecting as the equivalent of the TP MLE on a 1+1 deal. The first year is likely the amount that he gave up with Dallas to gain his freedom after a trade market failed to materialize for the 36 year old, which is a decent chunk of savings for them to add more room under the tax line. Thompson may not be the two way player that he once was, but he obviously helps fill the Heat's need for shooters around Antetokounmpo and Adebayo.
Harden re-signs with the Cavaliers: 3 years, $97 million (Shams 8/20)
As mentioned yesterday, Cleveland is about $28.4 million below their First Apron hard cap, so I believe that they still need another move or two to fit in this starting salary. Harden declined his $42,317,307 player option that was guaranteed for $13,317,307 in order to help the team with a smaller cap hit this year and gain $54.68 million more guaranteed. Turning 37 next week and not exactly known for taking care of his body, it's risky to commit this much through his age 39 season. It is an understandable compromise, though, given the flexibility that it provided under the First Apron to make a move like they did for Watson. Incredibly, their starting five projects to combine for $179.47 million this season aka $14.5 million over the salary cap.
Cavs sign-and-trade for Watson, 4 years, $88 million, in five-team deal (Haynes first, Shams the details 8/19)
Cavaliers receive: $25,923,426 total in; $31,470,036 total out
Clippers receive: $16,660,836 in; $0 out
Nuggets receive: $0 in; $20,465,116 out
2031 Cavaliers 1st round pick (via Cavs)
2032 Kings 2nd round pick (via Cavs)
Wizards receive: $8,000,000 in; $5,458,310 out
Hornets receive: $14,809,200 in; $8,000,000 out
So after this long restricted free agency saga, Denver only ended up with one total 1st round pick in the end? I know they would pay a ton in luxury tax to retain Watson, but this isn’t even an outrageous contract that they couldn’t just pay themselves. Kroenke strikes again despite having Nikola Jokic in his peak years. They can't even use the Trade Exception they're creating that's worth 50% of Watson's salary (due to Base Year Compensation) due to the Second Apron, so there aren't likely to be any other roster additions for more than the minimum.
LA can easily fit Strus into their own TPE that they created in the $17 million Collins sign-and-trade last month, so that's a nice use of the extra 2nd rounder that they picked up from Philly in the Broome salary dump, as reported by Fischer.
Cleveland will now be hard-capped at the First Apron with this move, so that leaves them with under $26 million of operating room for the first year of whatever Harden's new contract will be. They already owed their 2027 and 2029 1st round picks, so this one in 2031 is the first that was available to be traded. They also now lack any 2nd round picks until 2033. Being that far out increases the upside for Denver, but it's still a pretty low price to pay for a wing who showed the upside of Watson and only turns 24 next month.
Update: Shams adds that Washington is also involved in the deal with a Tre Mann for Cam Whitmore swap, which adds some extra wiggle room (to about $28.4 million) for Cleveland at the cost of the 2nd rounder that LA is sending out. Two-Way player Julian Reese is heading to Denver to satisfy the requirement of Washington "touching" more than one team, but he'll be immediately waived.
The previously reported trade sending Schroder to Charlotte was also looped in, which makes sense since Mann isn't ending up in Cleveland. Gozlan pointed out that doing so means that the Cavs can create a TPE worth Strus' $16.6 million instead of Schroder's $14.8 million, and with Whitmore coming back instead of Mann, they can just use the $6,897,984 D'Andre Hunter TPE and preserve the $10 million Lonzo Ball TPE.
Watford signs with the Pelicans: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 8/17)
Schroder gets moved yet again (Shams 8/14)
Hornets receive:
Cavaliers receive:
Beal re-signs with the Clippers: 2 years, $13.2 million (Shams 8/13)
Walker signs with the Nuggets: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 8/5)
Brooks extends with the Suns: 3 years, $73 million (Shams 8/5)
Marshall extends with the Mavericks: 3 years, $52.2 million (team announcement, Shams the details 8/2)
Sochan signs with the Trail Blazers: 1 year deal (Shams 8/1)
Payton re-signs with the Warriors: 1 year, minimum contract (Stein the news, Shams the details 8/1)
Clips take a chance on Broome (Shams 7/28)
Clippers receive:
I mentioned before how Philly needs to clear salary to fit their new signings under their First Apron hard cap, and this accomplishes that. Broome was the 35th overall pick just a year ago after being the SEC Player of the Year at Auburn, so now LA gets a look at him to help out their big man depth as Yanic Konan Niederhauser recovers from his foot injury. His salary could fit into either their Kobe Brown or Chris Paul Trade Exception, and it will likely be the latter since it's smaller. The Clippers didn't previously have a 2nd round pick, so this is well worth whatever cash amount they're sending out.
Green re-signs with the Warriors: 1 year, $27.7 million (Shams 7/28)
This is the amount that was the player option that Green originally declined to open up flexibility. Since their LeBron James efforts didn't work out, Golden State is simply giving him back the money that he was due. There was an argument to made for a multiyear deal at a lower starting salary for more total money, especially since the 36 year old probably isn't worth this much per season anymore, but this is a fair compromise after he tried to help them keep options open. This now takes them back past the First Apron, so that means that Melton's deal, which hasn't been made official yet as they waited to see their options, will now come out of the Taxpayer MLE that hard-caps them at the Second Apron. Any other signings will have to be for just the minimum, barring any trades that shed salary.
Hezonja signs with the Cavaliers: 1 year, minimum contract (Shams 7/26)
Having five years of NBA experience, the European wing will make just under $2.85 million with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year minimum in his return to the league. Hezonja has played the past six years overseas and excelled the past four seasons in particular with Real Madrid, where he just won the MVP of the Spanish ACB league. His Euroleague numbers weren't quite as efficient, but overall in 80 games across all competitions last season, he averaged 15.04 points , 4.35 rebounds, 2.15 assists, and 0.84 steals against 1.76 turnovers in only 23.15 minutes with 44.39%/33.41%/84.82% shooting while getting up 5.5 threes.
It's worth keeping in mind that even the stars don't typically high minutes in those leagues, but he had similar stats the prior year. Hezonja shot a little better in his first two years when he wasn't as heavily relied upon, and in total over his 324 games with Real Madrid these last four years, he averaged 12.88 points, 4.37 rebounds, 1.43 assists, and 0.85 steals against 1.44 turnovers in 22.87 minutes with 45.32%/36.23%/84.55% shooting while attempting 5.04 threes. Now 31, taking a chance on the former #5 overall pick could be well worth it on just a minimum contract like this.
Bufkin signs with the Pelicans: 1 year deal (Scotto 7/25)
There were no financial details reported, so I'm just going with the minimum for now. Having three years of experience, the backup guard will make just over $2.5 million with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year minimum. Bufkin has disappointed since being the 15th overall pick three years ago but only turns 23 in September, and New Orleans needs to try to add any talent that they can get.
Caldwell Pope to sign with the 76ers: 1 year, minimum contract (Haynes that it was coming, Shams 7/26)
Jones signs offer sheet with the Thunder: 2 years, $12 million (Scotto 7/25)
James signs with the 76ers: 2 years, minimum contract (player announcement, Shams the details 7/24)
The Decision Part 4 is finally over. I think the only somewhat surprising thing is that a player with an argument for the GOAT conversation will actually be playing for a minimum contract, but given that he turns 42 in December and teams weren't sure about his availability this summer, no one was setting aside cap space for him this time around. Because James is a 1+1 deal, his full salary amount will count towards his cap hit instead of a usual one year, veteran minimum, but they can slide just under the First Apron with one non-guaranteed salary (I'd guess Dalen Terry) waived. The player option allows him to get a new deal next summer or, if he decides to retire, pick up some extra salary to make up for this huge discount.
LeBron has said that being a fan of Julius Erving was part of the reason that he switched to #6 earlier in his career, and now he'll be playing for Dr. J's NBA team. It is somewhat ironic since going to New York was always talked about as the big move for James going back to his first free agency in 2010, and his agent Rich Paul said on his podcast that if the Knicks hadn't just won the title, that would be a done deal already. Now the rival city of Philadelphia will be where LeBron will tries to restore past glory to a historic franchise instead.
It's easy to see how the 76ers became an appealing option. There was already the obvious connection with Maxey, a fellow Klutch client under Paul, and then the hiring of Gansey added a top basketball decision maker that James knows from their time in Cleveland together, as mentioned in the Simons section below. Then the trade for Jaylen Brown helped move them up the totem pole as possible contenders in the East (talk about a ripple effect from Boston). At the beginning of the month, Brian Windhorst, who has covered James since high school, suggested on ESPN's free agency special that the teams contending for his signature needed to make a splash to show that they mean business and speculated about a possible Evan Mobley trade for Brown. Now James will in fact be lining up next to the former Celtic, just for the Sixers and not the Cavs.
Philly's new starting lineup of Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, James, and Embiid will be one of the most formidable lineups in the league, and the additions of Wade, Simons, Philon, and Hukporti help fortify what they already had on the bench. Whether or not Embiid, whom James played with on Team USA, can stay healthy is always the question for their playoff hopes, and Hukporti isn't exactly a proven backup option to go with Adem Bona. However, adding a star of this caliber, even at his age, of course adds some insolation to help fill the talent void if needed, and having another wing could unlock some small ball lineups with their power forwards. Last year with Luka showed once again that LeBron has the ability to blend his skills to play next to anyone, and his playmaking on this team could take them a long way.
7/26 update: Terry's non-guaranteed contract was indeed cut today. With the KCP news, Jabari Walker's partially guaranteed deal could be the next one on the way out once the former clears waivers.
Tate re-signs with the Rockets: 1 year, minimum contract (team announcement 7/23)
Having six years of experience, the backup wing will make just under $3.1 million with the subsidized cap hit above on the one year minimum. Right after the team announcement, Scotto reported that this is only partially guaranteed for $1.04 million, so the longest tenured Rocket may need to fight to keep his spot. This takes Houston into the tax now with 15 players on standard contracts, but they could skirt it by waiving Davison's non-guaranteed salary that I've mentioned before.
Walsh extends with the Celtics: 3 years, ~$16 million (Haynes 7/23)
Since Shams reported it as $15 million right after Haynes, I'm splitting the middle with this projection of $15.5 million. Walsh's offensive development has taken some time, but he brings nice energy off the bench as a defensive wing to make this price of equivalent to about the BAE pretty team friendly. As a former 2nd round pick, it's a solid move to lock in this money that's worth twice as much as he made in his first four seasons. Scotto also adds that the last year is a team option.
Crawford re-signs with the Rockets: 4 years, minimum contract (team announcement 7/22)
After the team announced the deal, Rockets cap expert David Weiner reported the details on what is a classic "Hinkie special" type of deal that's designed for flexibility. Being on Two-Way contracts in his first two years, Crawford has only played 29 total NBA games so far without any standout numbers, but his G-League production in promising. In 57 total games at that level, the 24 year old forward averaged 15.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks with 1.5 turnovers in 32.7 minutes with 49.3%/39.5%/72.3% shooting. 20 of those games were with the Houston affiliate last year with higher numbers across the board and 18.3% defensive rebounding percentage standing out, but I think the larger overall sample size is more informative. He most likely won't turn into the next Robert Covington, another Rio Grande Valley alum, but these kind of no risk moves are always enticing when you can get them done with Non-Bird Rights like this.
