Tag: NBA Salary Cap

NBA salary cap guru sees high variance for Rockets with 2023 offseason figures

Depending on roster decisions with current players, the Rockets can approximately generate between $45 million and $75 million in salary cap space for 2023, per @YossiGozlan of HoopsHype.

The Rockets should have salary cap flexibility in the 2023 offseason, and it comes at a good time. The ensuing 2023-24 year is when Houston’s draft-pick obligations to Oklahoma City come back into play, so the Rockets will likely want to put a winning team on the floor.

But when it comes to free agent options and trades in that 2023 offseason to upgrade the roster, exactly how much space will they have? That depends on decisions Houston makes regarding its current players.

Yossi Gozlan, NBA salary cap guru for HoopsHype, explains:

The Rockets have a high variance of cap space projections depending on their decisions. They will have their own first-round pick which could be in the Top 7, as well as the Bucks’ first-rounder this season which should be somewhere in the 20s.

Assuming those pick projections stand, they could generate around $75 million in cap space if they renounce all cap holds, including Kevin Porter Jr., and waive all their non-guaranteed players, including Eric Gordon’s $20.9 million salary. If they keep all those players, they could be looking at $45 million in space. They might be realistically looking at around $60 million in cap space by keeping Porter Jr.’s $9.7 million cap hold on the books, if he’s not extended, and waiving Gordon.

One possible silver lining, per Gozlan, is that most of the other teams projected to have salary cap space in 2023 are in the middle of rebuilds and with an organizational focus on accumulating draft picks and developing young players. “It’s possible we just get more teams rolling over their (2023) cap space, like this (2022) offseason,” Gozlan writes.

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If that’s the case, it could work to Houston’s benefit, since general manager Rafael Stone (in contrast to many rebuilding rivals) would appear to have a much greater incentive to be financially aggressive in 2023, owing to those future draft-pick obligations with the Thunder.

A complete rundown of Houston’s current player salaries is available below. A preliminary look at top 2023 free agents is available here.

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Podcast: August 2022 Rockets financial update with David Weiner

NBA salary cap guru David Weiner (@BimaThug) joins our latest podcast with a Houston Rockets financial update covering the remainder of the 2022 offseason and 2023 free agency.

David Weiner, NBA salary cap guru for ClutchFans, joins Friday’s episode of “The Lager Line” podcast with a Houston Rockets financial update covering the remainder of the 2022 offseason and 2023 free agency.

Topics discussed between Weiner and our Ben DuBose include trade aggregation options in late August involving players acquired from Dallas for Christian Wood; what Houston’s 2023 salary flexibility could bring; rotation battles to watch at 2022-23 training camp; and much more.

The podcast also dives into the stalled NBA trade market based on uncertainty involving Kevin Durant in Brooklyn and Donovan Mitchell in Utah. Once those situations are resolved, it’s possible more deals could open up around the league for teams like the Rockets.

Friday’s full episode can be listened to below. Each episode of the show is also made available via flagship radio station SportsTalk 790 in Houston, as well as to all major podcast distributors under “The Lager Line.”

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Rockets have reportedly used up their 2020-21 cash allotment in trades

Per David Hardisty of ClutchFans, the $5.6 million sent to Detroit all came out of Houston’s annual allotment for the upcoming season.

Per David Hardisty of ClutchFans, the Houston Rockets have already used up their entire cash allotment in trades for the 2020-21 NBA season.

In each league year, teams are allowed to send out up to a certain amount ($5.6 million in 2020-21) to help facilitate various deals. Houston sent out all of that money to Detroit in the massive sign-and-trade transaction that brought 25-year-old center Christian Wood to the Rockets. In theory, that cash was to compensate the Pistons for absorbing the expiring salary of Trevor Ariza, a less desirable player. Ariza’s salary had to be fully guaranteed for the trade to work under the league’s salary cap.

The Rockets did not use most of their 2019-20 cash allotment — and when part of the eventual Wood trade was agreed to on draft night (Ariza and the No. 16 overall selection for a protected future first-round pick), some fans had hoped that Houston might use its funds from the 2019-20 pile and save the 2020-21 allotment for a future deal. After all, the NBA’s annual draft is considered part of the previous season’s league year.

However, when Ariza’s contract was used to facilitate the Wood sign-and-trade by expanding the original agreement, it became clear that the cash would have to come out of Houston’s 2020-21 allotment.

Wood was not a free agent until the 2020-21 league year, so the transaction could not be backdated. And since the Rockets were and are well above the NBA’s salary cap, they could not have given Wood his three-year, $41-million deal without a sign-and-trade transaction.

With cash now unavailable, new Rockets GM Rafael Stone will have to use player or draft assets as sweetener for any trade proposals over the remainder of this league year. That could make the acquisition of young prospects — such as Friday’s sign-and-trade deal with New York for recent second-round pick Issuf Sanon — particularly important this year.

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Contract tidbits for Sterling Brown, Jae’Sean Tate, and Bruno Caboclo

Brown has a straight-forward minimum contract with the Rockets, while the terms for Tate and Caboclo are a bit more complex.

Courtesy of NBA salary cap experts Bobby Marks (ESPN) and Keith Smith (Yahoo Sports), we now have new details regarding three recent contracts given out by the Houston Rockets in the 2020 offseason.

Per Smith, the contract to guard Sterling Brown — formerly of the Milwaukee Bucks — is very straight-forward. It’s for one season at the minimum salary, and it is already fully guaranteed.

The new contracts for Jae’Sean Tate and Bruno Caboclo, however, are a bit more complicated. Per Marks, both Tate and Caboclo only have $50,000 guaranteed, which gives the team flexibility if they decide to go in a different direction with one of those roster spots at a later date.

Caboclo’s deal becomes fully guaranteed if he is not waived by the first game of the NBA’s 2020-21 regular season (Dec. 22), while Tate’s contract guarantee will increase to $500,000 at that time.

Caboclo’s contract is for two seasons in total, while Tate’s deal is for three. However, all of the future years are non-guaranteed. This gives the team a number of potential paths moving forward, depending on the level of play shown by both players and also the state of the overall roster.

Led by new GM Rafael Stone, Houston used a portion of its mid-level exception (MLE) to give Tate the three-year deal, which is not allowed under minimum exception contracts. There are several reasons for this.

One potential reason is that Tate’s first-year salary is $1,445,697 — typically the minimum for a player with one year of NBA experience — instead of the standard NBA rookie minimum of $898,310. In other words, it’s a higher salary for the rising 25-year-old prospect.

However, another plausible reason is that the three-year deal makes it harder for other NBA teams to claim Tate on waivers, should the Rockets decide they need his roster spot to acquire someone else.

“By giving Tate three years, it makes him ineligible to be claimed by a team using the minimum exception if Houston waives him,” Smith writes. “By giving Tate just $50,000 guaranteed, it makes him eligible for a two-way [contract] with Houston, if he is waived.”

With Houston subject to a hard salary cap after the sign-and-trade acquisition of Christian Wood, the Rockets are already close to their maximum team payroll. However, should a player they like (Glenn Robinson III?) come available at a later time, the unique terms in Tate and Caboclo’s deals could give the team additional roster flexibility.

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Rafael Stone: Rockets have no spending limits from Tilman Fertitta

“We’re extraordinarily lucky for that to be a non-issue, because not every organization is in that spot,” Stone said. “But we are.”

In an introductory press conference, new Rockets GM Rafael Stone pushed back on critics of owner Tilman Fertitta, whose spending habits with regards to Houston’s roster have recently been called into question.

Stone, who was the team’s No. 2 basketball operations executive last season after Daryl Morey, said some moves were misconstrued as being about cost-cutting, when they were actually about something else.

In response to a reporter’s question on Thursday regarding Fertitta’s willingness to spend this offseason, here’s how Stone responded:

I actually think that’s a bit of a misnomer. To be clear, I’ve always been in the room, this entire time. I’ve been in on every conversation that’s been had between Tilman and Daryl, or Tad, and everybody. Tilman has never once said that he’s not willing to spend, if spending results in winning. That’s been consistent.

He reiterated to me upon being hired that his priorities were winning first, second, and ad nauseam. Money, not so much. I do think sometimes that on the personnel side, we have rules within the NBA. The salary cap and luxury tax, if you’re in them… they actually limit your flexibility. I think sometimes people think that you don’t want to be in it because of cash, when often times, it’s because it results in being hard-capped and limits your flexibility at the trade deadline, or something else.

I know that to be a non-issue for this organization. We’re extraordinarily lucky for that to be a non-issue, because not every organization is in that spot. But we are, and we always have been. That’s the honest answer.

Previous media reports stated that Fertitta has authorized the Rockets to spend the taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (MLE) in this upcoming offseason, which started at an annual salary of approximately $5.7 million last season. (This year’s levels have yet to be finalized.)

While there is a larger non-taxpayer MLE (worth over $9 million last year) potentially available to above-the-cap teams, such as Houston, the usage of that MLE would trigger a hard salary cap. Stone’s comments suggest that the rigidness of a hard cap concerns the Rockets, which is why using the taxpayer MLE appears to be their plan this offseason.

Thursday’s press conference can be viewed in its entirety below.

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Lakers hoping to get Luol Deng’s old salary removed from team salary cap

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports the Lakers are trying to free up about $5 million in cap space by removing Luol Deng’s old deal.

The Los Angeles Lakers are already planning for the upcoming offseason and they are looking for creative ways to open up cap space to improve their team for a title defense.

News broke on Tuesday morning that the Lakers are looking to open up nearly $5 million in cap space by removing the salary they owe to former Laker Luol Deng off of their salary sheet. Shams Charania of The Athletic/Stadium reported the news on Tuesday, meaning Deng still gets the money he is owed by the Lakers but the Lakers will have an additional $5 million available to improve their roster heading into next season.

The Lakers are expected to have a big summer ahead, with Anthony Davis likely opting-out of the final year of his contract and signing a new deal with the Lakers this offseason. Starting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also has an opt-out clause that he plans to exercise as he is also looking to cash in on a longer-term deal following a great playoff run.

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Celtics one of five teams most affected by drop in cap projections

After projected revenues took a hit in the wake of the Daryl Morey-China saga, the Celtics find themselves one of five teams most affected by the drop in projected revenue.

The Boston Celtics are one of several teams who may be most impacted by news of the projected drop in salary cap and luxury tax levels, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks.

The drop is due to the NBA’s failure to meet anticipated revenue projections in the wake of the spat between China and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

The cap is expected to grow to $115 million next season, down by a million from previous estimates. The luxury tax, estimated at $141 million before the most recent adjustments, will drop to $139 million.

Other teams expected to be impacted by the change include the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. Boston joins these teams in facing an additional $6-8 million in potential luxury taxes next season.

The new figures shouldn’t impact the Celtics’ long-term planning too much longer-term, but could reduce the ability of the team to make improvements around the margins a bit in coming offseasons.

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Warriors could face up to $77.5 million luxury tax with new salary cap projections

With new NBA salary cap projections released, the Golden State Warriors could face a heightened luxury tax.

The NBA salary cap projections could have stifling consequences on the Golden State Warriors.

The league released projections for salary cap and luxury tax for the 2020-21 season to teams Thursday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks.

With a lower salary cap and luxury tax than expected, the Warriors could be on the hook for a tax payment as high as $77.5 million, about $12 million more than what was expected.

The salary cap is expected to be $115 million, according to Wojnarowski. That would be an increase from the 2019-20 season, but not as much as the previously-predicted $116 million.

The luxury tax is projected to be $139 million, Wojnarowski reported.

As the roster currently stands, the Warriors’ 2020-21 payroll will be $147.87 million, according to Basketball Reference.

Four players on the Warriors roster are set to receive more than $20 million: Draymond Green’s extension will start at $22 million, D’Angelo Russell will be paid more than $28 million, Klay Thompson $35 million and Stephen Curry $40 million.

The Warriors will also likely add a high first-round draft pick to the sheet. A top-five pick would result in a cap hit ranging from $6.8 million to $10.73 million.

Golden State has a $5.9 million exception to use on a free agent, according to Wojnarowski and Marks.

If the Warriors use the entire taxpayer mid-level exception, their luxury tax bill could range from $77.5M if they get the No. 1 pick to as low as $61M if they get the No. 5 pick.

The easiest way to get under the luxury tax would be to trade Russell. A highly-coveted free agent this past offseason, he will have three years left for about $30 million per year after this season.

Moving his contract would put Golden State right near the luxury line, depending on other roster changes, and allow them to move manageable contracts to clear the rest of the way if needed.

But the Warriors have not been shy about exceeding the luxury tax in recent years. If the front office feels the team can still compete for a title when Curry and Thompson return from injury, it may pay the price again.

USA TODAY Sports Media Group salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan contributed research to this report.

What’s next for the hard cap after Warriors waive Marquese Chriss?

The Warriors are now $1,236,685 below the apron, leaving them plenty of space to sign one of Damion Lee or Ky Bowman to a standard contract.

The Warriors waived forward Marquese Chriss after playing 37 games for them. The move comes ahead of the January 10 deadline to waive players on non-guaranteed contracts before they become fully guaranteed.

The Warriors were roughly $375,000 below the $138.928 million hard cap, or apron, throughout the season. Chriss’s contract was non-guaranteed and added $9,485 daily to the Warriors payroll. By waiving him on January 7, Chriss leaves the Warriors with a $758,804 dead cap hit.

Warriors cap sheet after waiving Marquese Chriss
Warriors cap sheet after waiving Marquese Chriss

The Warriors are now $1,236,685 below the apron, leaving them plenty of space to sign one of Damion Lee or Ky Bowman to a standard contract.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Warriors intend on converting Lee for now, who has run out his 45-day two-way clock.

Warriors potential cap sheet if they sign Damion Lee to a prorated minimum salary on January 7, 2020.
Warriors potential cap sheet if they sign Damion Lee to a prorated minimum salary on January 7, 2020.

If Lee is signed on January 7, his pro-rated minimum salary would be $915,573. This would put the Warriors $321,112 below the apron. They would have to trade a minimum-salaried player, such as Alec Burks or Glenn Robinson III, to clear enough room to sign Bowman to his minimum salary.

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The Warriors still have $1.7 million remaining from their taxpayer mid-level exception. There is a strong possibility that the Warriors use part of the exception to sign Lee in order to give him at least a three-year contract. By using the exception, the Warriors could also pay Lee a little more than the minimum salary.