In anticipation of a very fast transition from the 2019-20 NBA season to the offseason, Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey says he’s using his downtime during the league’s ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) hiatus to make plans for free agency and potential trades later this year.
Morey made his comments as part of a taped conversation with play-by-play broadcaster Craig Ackerman and head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Morey, who remains optimistic that the 2019-20 season will ultimately be resumed and completed, said in the new interview:
When we do restart, we think it’s going to be rapid. There’s not going to be the normal breaks between the season and the offseason.
So we’re having to do all our free agency prep, potential trade prep. The draft, we don’t know when that will be. It’s probably going to be right after whatever season we have, when it ends. So when we do restart, it’s going to be accelerated. So we need all the planning done up front.
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The timetable of the 2020 offseason is not yet known, since the usual schedule of the NBA Draft in late June and the opening of free agency on June 30 will likely be pushed back if the league has yet to complete its 2019-20 season by then (unless it is outright canceled).
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In comments last month, Morey said Houston hoped to “add a significant player” this offseason. He noted that the team could use its full Mid-Level Exception (MLE) after the recent trade of Clint Capela for Robert Covington, who will be paid about $5 million less than Capela next year.
Morey did not specify whether he was referring to the taxpayer or non-taxpayer MLE (definitions here). His full comments:
Our [trade] deadline really set us up well. Not only did we shoot for a better structure of our core players, that they fit together better, but also allowed us to be more flexible going forward to add players that we think overall as we allocate our player spending. We were over-weighted at the five spot. This opens up ability to spend at other spots.
New #Rockets at #TXSN – Q&A: Daryl Morey on Rockets' title window, responding to critics, keeping Mike D'Antoni https://t.co/Q10mnc6ju6
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) April 1, 2020
The larger MLE (non-taxpayer) — which, if used, hard caps a team at the NBA’s luxury tax apron level — allowed teams to offer contracts starting at $9.3 million last offseason. To this point, the various levels for new contracts in the 2020-21 league year have yet to be established.
Based on what we know now, though, the gap between the contracts of Capela and Covington could make it more feasible for the Rockets to use the larger MLE, fill out their roster, and stay below the apron level.
It’s worth noting that if the NBA cannot resume its 2019-20 season following the current COVID-19 hiatus, that would significantly lessen the league’s basketball revenues for this year. In turn, that could lower the NBA’s team salary thresholds for the 2020-21 season.
The Rockets are in the same boat as the Sixers. If the NBA & union can't agree on artificially inflated 2020-21 cap/tax figures, & given Fertitta's disproportionately dire financial situation (vs other NBA owners) right now, there could be disastrous consequences for the Rockets. https://t.co/Nx5xMV6cqX
— David Weiner (@BimaThug) March 30, 2020
In such a scenario, the Rockets might be closer to the luxury tax and apron levels than currently anticipated, which could complicate their ability to use the non-taxpayer MLE.
But for now, the Morey and the Rockets appear optimistic that the 2019-20 season can be salvaged, and that — along with the Covington trade — might also bolster their ability to make a larger addition this offseason. As such, Morey is using his current downtime to prepare for that possibility.
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