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The HoopsHype Daily: Tim Duncan is unbeaten as head coach

You can get this content every morning in your email inbox. Click here to subscribe to the HoopsHype Daily newsletter. BIG DEBUT: Last night, the Spurs announced Gregg Popovich would miss San Antonio’s game against Charlotte for personal reasons, …

You can get this content every morning in your email inbox. Click here to subscribe to the HoopsHype Daily newsletter.

BIG DEBUT: Last night, the Spurs announced Gregg Popovich would miss San Antonio’s game against Charlotte for personal reasons, and in his place leading San Antonio would be 15-time All-Star and future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan. Even more surprising than that was the fact that the Spurs, once down 17 in last night’s contest, wound up pulling out the win 104-103 behind 21 points and six assists from Dejounte Murray.

Duncan, humble as ever, said the game was handled using a coach-by-committee strategy, giving credit to assistants Becky Hammon, Will Hardy and Mitch Hammond for the team’s success. Duncan is probably being honest, too, as it’s doubtful the Spurs veered too far off from the usual Popovich game plan. Even so, to see Duncan running things as a head coach and for him to earn a win on his first try was pretty awesome.

The guy might just have a future in this. That is if he wants it.

LAST NIGHT IN THE ASSOCIATION: Nets guard Caris LeVert exploded for a career-high 51 points against Boston, 37(!!!) of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime of a 129-120 Brooklyn win. 51 is also the number of points the Nets scored in the fourth quarter alone, the second-highest amount Boston has given up in a quarter in their franchise’s long history.

ANOTHER KNICKS FLUB: The Knicks decided it was a good idea yesterday to go to war with famed movie director and team superfan Spike Lee, over an issue of which entrance Lee has to use to get into games.

On one hand, Lee likely overreacted to the entire thing, but on the other, what did the Knicks gain by attacking him through their PR department? Nothing, that’s what.

POINT GUARD OUT: Derrick Rose will miss at least two weeks due to an ankle sprain, but considering the Pistons’ place in the standings, we might not see him again in 2019-20.

ANOTHER BALL BRO: LiAngelo Ball, the least physically gifted of the Ball brother trio, will be joining a G League club soon. Ball most recently was a practice player for the Thunder’s G League squad.

BLAZERS’ PRICE POINT: The Blazers are being valued at $1.85 billion, a huge number considering their market size. There’s speculation Jody Allen, the late Paul Allen’s daughter, could sell the team.

CORONA LATEST: Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry admits NBA games could be played with empty stands if the outbreak of coronavirus worsens. Elsewhere, the Heat and Pistons held team meetings regarding how to stay safe from the virus.

MVP RANKINGS: In our latest MVP rankings, Jayson Tatum made his debut in the series, a well-deserved honor considering the insane level he’s been playing at.

SUPERSTAR TURN: Speaking of Tatum, the young All-Star has clearly made the turn towards superstardom this season. Find out how, from his coaches, family, Danny Ainge and Bradley Beal.

ODD TREND: The inconsistent Sixers now own the distinction of being the worst road team with relation to home record since 1955.

NEW SNEAKER DEAL: Draymond Green is set to sign a shoe deal with Converse, making him the brand’s biggest name since Dwyane Wade.

MOREY UNLOADS: Rockets GM Daryl Morey voiced very legitimate concerns with the state of national broadcast announcing, where a lot of the league’s top announcers choose to complain about the NBA product rather than sell it to consumers.

LAVAR IS BACK: For whatever reason, LaVar Ball made the media rounds again yesterday, and he’s no less confident than before. The elder Ball says the Pelicans would beat the West-leading Lakers in a playoff series.

How the Wolves can still avoid the luxury tax

The Minnesota Timberwolves found themselves above the luxury tax line after making several trades ahead of the NBA trade deadline. Being above the luxury tax is not ideal considering the Timberwolves have the league’s fourth-worst record. Teams that …

The Minnesota Timberwolves found themselves above the luxury tax line after making several trades ahead of the NBA trade deadline. Being above the luxury tax is not ideal considering the Timberwolves have the league’s fourth-worst record. Teams that perform this poorly generally avoid it, but the Timberwolves had to take on more incoming salary in order to complete their trade with the Golden State Warriors.

Although the deadline passed more than two weeks ago and all contracts are fully guaranteed for the rest of the season, the Timberwolves can still get under the luxury tax. They are close enough to it ($1,136,269) that they can pull it off through buyouts and/or the waiver/claim process. Not only that, but they can also create significant enough space that allows them to fill out the rest of their roster afterward.

ROUTE A: BUYOUTS

The most straightforward way for the Timberwolves to reduce their payroll right now is through a buyout. Forward Evan Turner is already in the process of meeting other teams with the expectation he will be bought out ahead of the March 1 playoff-eligibility deadline. Guard Allen Crabbe is also a potential buyout candidate.

Players usually give back to their previous teams the amount of money their new team will pay them. For the most part, it is the equivalent to their respective prorated minimum salary. For Turner and Crabbe, their daily cap hits are $13,173 and $11,461, respectively. Each day that passes without a buyout is one less day for a new team to pay them, which means less money being surrendered in an eventual buyout to the Timberwolves.

For example, if Turner and Crabbe both get new teams committed to sign them to prorated minimum rest-of-season deals on February 22, they could finalize buyouts with the Timberwolves that day and sign with their new teams on February 24, two days after clearing waivers. Turner and Crabbe’s prorated minimum salaries on February 24 are $684,988 and $595,971, respectively. Combined, that is $1,280,959 that would be surrendered in their buyouts, which would put the Timberwolves $144,690 below the luxury tax.

Although they would be under the luxury tax after those buyouts, they would eventually go over it again in order to meet the 14-player league minimum roster requirement. This particular route would’ve been successful had they done it right after the trade deadline since both players would have given up more money. However, players usually don’t agree to buyouts until they have a new team lined up, so there wasn’t much the Timberwolves could do.

The expectation is that at least Turner will secure a buyout, but for the Timberwolves’ tax avoidance goal, hopefully, there is a bidding war for him. If a team offers more than the prorated minimum salary, such as one that has their mid-level exception (MLE) or a disabled player exception (DPE) remaining, Turner would give back around the same amount to Minnesota. For example, if the Lakers sign Turner using their $1.75 million DPE, the $1.75 million surrendered in his buyout would put the Timberwolves $613,731 below the tax. That is plenty of space for them to fill out the rest of the roster while avoiding the luxury tax altogether.

ROUTE B: WAIVE A PLAYER THAT ANOTHER TEAM WILL CLAIM

Another path for the Timberwolves to get under the tax and avoid it while fulfilling roster requirements is to waive a player whose salary is large enough to create the space but small enough to be claimed by another team. The Miami Heat did this last season when they reluctantly waived Rodney McGruder. They outright waived him, meaning his entire salary would have stayed on their payroll as dead money but because he was claimed by the Los Angeles Clippers, his cap hit was wiped off the Heat’s payroll.

The Timberwolves have two newly acquired players that so far aren’t in their future plans and could potentially be candidates to be waived: Omari Spellman and Jacob Evans. Both players were acquired alongside D’Angelo Russell so the Warriors can get under the luxury tax, but doing so pushed the Timberwolves over it. Both players are on the second season of their rookie contracts and as of now are only guaranteed for 2020-21, with an upcoming team option for 2021-22.

There is no rush for the Timberwolves to go through this route as it can be done towards the end of the year, just like the Heat did with McGruder last season. Let’s say they decide to waive Spellman ($1,897,800), who earns less than Evans ($1,925,880), and they have assurances of a team willing to put a claim on him. Teams must either have cap space (no one), or a traded player exception (TPE) equal to the amount of Spellman’s salary (Cleveland and Houston, for example) to claim him. If successfully claimed, the Timberwolves would be $761,531 below the luxury tax.

The Timberwolves could look to do a combination of the two routes in order to maximize space below the tax and create additional roster spots. Two-way players Kelan Martin and Jordan McLaughlin have been in the Timberwolves rotation but are limited by their 45-day two-way clock. They could use their post-buyout/waiver space below the luxury tax to sign both players to rest-of-season deals. They could also lock them in for at least three seasons with the remainder of their MLE ($3.7 million remaining as of February 22).