NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 10/19/12

1. Deven

   Mr. Coon, once Kobe’s contract expires by 2013-2014 but decides against retirement and come back for one more year, how much can the Lakers offer him, even though they’ll be well beyond the luxury tax and the possibly of Dwight Howard signing long-term with LAL?

   • Larry Coon

     They will be allowed to offer him up to $31,975,970 for 2014-15. But that would severely cripple their ability to rebuild around Dwight, and be exorbitantly expensive — especially for a 36-year-old player. If he comes back, he would need to take a steep discount — like Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan did.

2. Deven

   Hearing reports that the Lakers want to be Fisher back. Can they do that right now?

   • Larry Coon

     They are legally allowed to sign Fisher. But they won’t.

3. Deven

   Mr. Coon, do you think the reason some players, mostly all-star players, are reluctant to sign extensions now is due to the new CBA? If this were under the old CBA, do you think those big name players would sign the extensions now or next offseason?

   • Larry Coon

     A player can receive four years if he signs with another team as a free agent, or five if he re-signs with his current team with Bird rights. Extensions are limited to four seasons, but that includes any remaining seasons on the player’s current contract — and even if the player signs as late as June 30, the current season counts as one full season. So the most a player can get in an extension is three seasons. Under most circumstances, it makes more sense for the player to wait to become a free agent (although I wrote an article last summer explaining why it made more sense for Andrew Bynum to extend).

     Since the new CBA was supposed to help control spending, help level the playing field, and promote teams’ ability to keep their own players, I think the extension rules missed the mark. Players should have an incentive to sign extensions — instead, the new CBA provides a disincentive. Free agency increases costs (supply and demand) and is big-market friendly.

4. Deven

   Do you think Mikhail Prokorov is trying to lure Knicks fans into becoming Nets fans based on all the money and power he has?

   • Larry Coon

     Of course he wants to lure Knicks fans to become Nets fans. He also wants to lure non-Knicks fans to become Nets fans. The best way to do that is to field an exciting and competitive team — which costs money.

     You can make the statement of any team in any market, although the situation of being the second team in the same market is true only for the Nets and the Clippers.

5. Deven

   What are your thoughts on the flopping rules and the fines that are involved with it?

   • Larry Coon

     The fear of citations don’t stop most drivers from speeding.

     I would have been in favor of rule changes that don’t reward players for getting to a spot a split-second before the offensive player gets there. I think if they made the right changes to the charge/block rules, the flopping problem would have taken care of itself.

6. Wil

   Hi Larry, any chance we can re-open the CBA? Seriously, this whole issue with extensions (and for OKC having to pay player more than the max based on individual accolades) is quickly getting out of hand. I am tired of going through the ‘Decision’ every year! Any chance this gets re-addressed earlier? It can benefit both the players and the owners.

   • Larry Coon

     I don’t think the CBA gets re-opened, but I agree that the current agreement missed the mark on a number of fronts.

     The rules for revenue sharing and the luxury tax were supposed to level the playing field and protect small-market teams. But here we have a team in the 28th biggest market that is a victim of its own success. It drafted well, it made good decisions, and now it’s faced with choosing between paying an exorbitant bill and trading away one of its best and most productive players.

     But remember, the league entered negotiations wanting a true hard cap — which really would have leveled the playing field. It wouldn’t have helped the Thunder keep their squad intact, but it would have truly leveled the playing field. The players negotiated (and litigated) the owners away from this position.

7. zedrix

   I don’t think OKC can afford Harden’s extension, with their payroll committed by Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka.

   Is James Harden on the trading block? If so, do you see a trade between Afflalo and Harden happening?

   • Larry Coon

     Starting next year the luxury tax will become very expensive, and the Thunder are in the league’s 28th biggest market. Those are facts that are not in dispute.

8. LA in LA

   Are you allowed to cut a guaranteed contract as long as you pay this the full price of it? Could the Lakers buy out some bench warmer like Earl Clark or Duhon? It would be nice to make if Lakers kept DJO and CDR and get rid of Earl Clark, Morris, or Duhon.

   • Larry Coon

     Teams are allowed to cut any contract they want to cut. Most contracts are guaranteed at least partially, so if a team waives a player they have to pay any remaining guaranteed base salary. So yes — the Lakers could cut either Clark or Duhon, and if they do, they’d still owe $1.2 million or $3.5 million, respectively for this season, and those amounts would continue to show up on their books (and the Lakers would pay tax on these amounts as well).

     So let’s say the Lakers, who have 13 guaranteed contracts, decide to keep Sacre and DJO, but also want to hang onto CDR. That adds up to 16, so they’d have to waive a player like Clark or Darius Morris (I doubt they waive Duhon).

     Teams usually don’t like to pay players to NOT play for them, but if they really want to hang onto an extra non-guaranteed player, they’d have to waive a guaranteed one.

9. Badax33

   Larry

   Question about the Celtics and Jeff Green. Can Green be traded this season? I’ve had people say that because he didn’t play last year he can’t be traded until he plays the entire 2012/2013 season – Keith Van Horn Rule. However, I’ve read your FAQs (several times) and see ONLY that he can’t be included in a S&T (which is the Keith Van Horn Rule). But once he signed a new FA deal, he becomes tradable (like an other FA or traded player) in either Dec or Jan (FAQ 96 or 98). Am I correct? Thanks

   • Larry Coon

     The Keith Van Horn rule relates to sign-and-trade transactions only. Green can be traded on Jan 15.

10. Dennis

    The Philadelphia 76ers are predicted to win 47 games next year. If you were a betting man, higher or lower than this total? And what would be the #1 reason for making this decision.

    • Larry Coon

      I predicted 44 wins for them this season. Bynum is their key, obviously, and I factored-in his tendency to miss a good handful of games each season.

11. Curious

    Does the injury to Kevin Love open the door to teams projected to be slightly behind them in the standings this year: Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, possibly Portland Trailblazers. Can you see each of these teams winning more games as a result (as someone has to take the 8th seed). Or does this have little to no impact on the surrounding teams in the standings?

    • Larry Coon

      I think the error bars on projected standings are large enough that any shift caused by Love’s injury falls within the margin of error.

12. Andrew

    If a team wants to have a player play a season in the D-League, but wants to keep the rights to the player so another team doesn’t claim him, does that mean they have to use one of their 15 roster spots on the player? Even if he never suits up for an NBA game that season?

    • Larry Coon

      There are two kinds of players in the D-league — those under an NBA contract who are assigned to the NBA team’s D-League affiliate, and those under D-League contracts. NBA teams retain the rights to their own players they assign to the D-League. But it’s open season for players under a D-League contract. An NBA team can have its D-League affiliate sign the player, they can invest a lot of time, energy and money in developing him, but another NBA team can call him up.

      The D-League sees this as a good thing, since a developing player isn’t necessarily stuck behind three guys at his position on the parent club, and can instead sign wherever there’s an opportunity. But NBA teams see this as a problem, in that they don’t retain any rights to the talent they invest in. Somewhere down the road, a compromise solution will probably happen, such as additional players for whom the NBA team can pay an additional fee and retain their rights. These players would be paid on two-way contracts, where they get a lower amount while they’re playing in the D-League, but a higher amount if called-up to the NBA team.

13. Park Barkley

    Are the people who are talking about the Lakers getting Lebron forgetting about Nash’s contract?
    If the Lakers signed Lebron to a Max in 2014, about how much could they pay Kobe to come back for a final year?
    Is there any rule against Kobe taking a huge pay cut but Jerry Buss making a $30 million donation to a charity in his honor, so Kobe still feels like the highest paid on the team?

    • Larry Coon

      Right now Nash is the only player on LA’s books for 2014-15, at $9,701,000. Let’s say Dwight re-signs for $22,051,666 that season, and the cap is $62 million. That’d leave $30 million in cap room, minus cap holds.

      Also, remember that while Nash signed for three years, he’s 38 right now, and may not be planning to play much longer himself (or he could fade over the next couple years). The Lakers have another tool at their disposal — the spread provision. If they waive Nash in 2014, his remaining $9.7 million would be spread over three seasons. That would take about $6.5 million off their cap in 2014-15 (but add salary in 2015-16 and 2016-17), and bring their total cap room to about $37 million (again, minus cap holds). They’d have plenty of flexibility.

      There’s no rule against Kobe taking a big pay cut. Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan did so this year. If Kobe does keep playing in 2014-15, it may be necessary for him to take a big cut as well. The Lakers couldn’t afford to pay $32 million for a 36-year-old Bryant.

14. albert

    If a player signs a veteran extension (“an extension pursuant to Section 7(a)”), the player may not be traded for six months if the extension called for more than three seasons (including seasons remaining on the current contract) and/or more than 4.5% annual raises. Do these restrictions also apply to rookie scale extensions? I ask in regard to a player like a hypothetically-extended Harden or Gibson, who would both likely be subject to the PPP but perhaps also a trade restriction past the trade deadline.

    • Larry Coon

      I was told the rule was meant to apply to veteran extensions only.

15. ethan

    Is steve blake and chris duhon still on block for the lakers, if so what might they get?

    • Larry Coon

      I know Marc Stein wrote that both were on the block, and I also know Marc well enough to know he doesn’t run with stuff that’s not well-sourced.

      But it makes sense that one would be on the block — they’re mostly redundant. I could easily see Mitch Kupchak flipping one of them for future draft considerations, just to get them off the roster.

16. patrick

    did you read windhorsts’ article about lebron to LA? I thought it made alot of sense, and I would not be surprised at all if Lebron arrives in 2014, thoughts?

    • Larry Coon

      I think there are two models for team building — one mostly makes sense for small-market teams, and the other mostly makes sense for big-market teams.

      In the small-market model teams need to invest in the draft and in player development, because they aren’t typical free agent destinations and can’t afford the huge bill that comes with superstar players. They’re looking to develop their talent, keep them there while they’re affordable, and possibly cash them in for more draft assets and younger players to keep their system sustainable.

      In the big-market model teams essentially ignore the draft and player development, and instead rely on their ability to attract and afford superstar players. This means they need to do a reset every few years where they wipe the roster and sign premier free agents. So their long-range planning includes timing their contracts to end at about the same time, and coinciding that with a good free agent class. This seems to be the Lakers’ plan, and most everyone comes off the books in 2014 — when LeBron will be a free agent.

      If I’m Mitch Kupchak, he’d certainly be my number one target.

17. Alex

    Hi Larry,
    just curious, the Bulls signed Hinrich on the 20th July while Houston signed Asik to an offer sheet (on the same day). Since Bulls got their hard cap wasn’t it a sure thing that thy will lose Asik?

    • Larry Coon

      It wasn’t a sure thing at that point, but yeah — as soon as the Bulls signed Hinrich, they were stuck with the hard cap.

18. Larry Coon

    If I’m John Hammond I say no to that deal.

19. Connor Tompkins

    Lets say, hypothetically, Lebron and Dwight end up in LA in 2014. Would they have enough money to bring in another superstar the year before or the year after? CP3 can be a free agent next year and it’s well documented that he and Lebron would want to play together. Any chance of that happening?

    • Larry Coon

      At this point I’d say Chris Paul stays with the Clippers — but of course, a bad season by the Clippers could sour his outlook. The Lakers have a lot of players on their books for 2013-14: Metta, Blake, Kobe, Duhon, Pau, Hill and Nash. Most of that salary comes off in 2014 — I think it’s more likely that’s when they go shopping.