NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 1/11/13

1. Angelo

   Do you see Calderon returning to the Raptors after his contract is up? He must be annoyed by now hearing his name in trade rumors every single year.

   • Larry Coon

     Part of the reason he’s talked about so much is because of his salary, for which he shares equal “blame.” Plus players know (for the most part) that this is a part of business.

2. Angelo

   So can Howard just sign a 1 year max deal with Dallas and then the next year sign a 5 year max deal with them? This way he would only lose some money on the first year of the contact. About how much would he lose that way? I know there is the risk of injury but is might be worth the gamble for him and Cuban.

   • Larry Coon

     Bird Rights (the ability for teams to sign players without regard to their cap room) ramp up over three years. It used to take just one year, but Phoenix once did exactly what you suggested with Danny Manning, and they later changed the rule.

     Right now Dallas is committed to $42.2 million in salaries for 2013-14. Accounting for various cap holds, let’s round that to an even $45 million, and estimate the cap next season to be $60 million. So that gives the Mavs $15 million in cap room to chase Dwight. Let’s say he accepts the salary cut (he’s eligible to get about $20.5 million) and signs with them for one season. Or more realistically, let’s say he signs a two-year deal with a player option, so if something bad happens he’s protected with another year’s salary.

     So he opts-out next summer to become a free agent again. Dallas has only the one-year version of Bird rights, called non-Bird. But everyone else is off their payroll (except Crowder & Cunningham, and anyone else they sign for more than one season in the meantime). He will be eligible to re-sign for the maximum (which for him at the time will be about $20 million), but only for four years and 4.5% raises.

     Is this do-able? Perhaps. Dwight would have to be willing to take a big (about 25%) pay cut for a season, and risk playing on a short-term contract. He would also get less (in terms of smaller raises) than he can make by re-signing with the Lakers this summer.

     But if he really wants to play in Dallas, something like this would get it done.

3. Wil

   Hi Larry, a question on how the D-League works. For the future Kobe/LeBron’s who want to skip college could they just pick a D-League team, can the team pay whatever they want to get them, is there some type of ‘draft’, can a player then be ‘called-up’ by the host NBA team? A little confused. Thanks.

   • Larry Coon

     D-League players sign with the league and not with specific teams, and there are scale salaries that are set in stone (and don’t pay much at all). There is also a D-League draft.

     An NBA team can assign their own players (under an NBA contract) to the D-League, and those are the only players to whom they have rights. With the exception of those players, any NBA club can call-up (sign to an NBA contract) any player from any D-League team. This is seen as a problem by many NBA teams — they can invest time and money in a player’s development, only to see him get signed by another team.

     On the other hand, players often see this as an advantage. For example, a point guard on a D-League team isn’t stuck behind the three point guards on the parent club — he has an opportunity to be signed by any NBA team that needs his services.

     Somewhere in the middle there’s a compromise that will work for both sides.

4. Deven

   Why does Clipper announcer, Ralph Lawler, always rely on a microphone and not a headset like other announcers use?

   • Larry Coon

     He’s old school. Personal choice.

5. Justin

   The Lakers Chris Duhon has a buy-out at the of season. What does that mean in terms of it affecting their salary cap if they choose to buy him out and does that make him easier to trade?

   • Larry Coon

     Duhon has salary that’s either partially-guaranteed or non-guaranteed for next season, but I don’t have details in front of me regarding if or how any guarantees get triggered. For the sake of discussion, let’s assume the Lakers can waive him before the start of the 2013-14 season, in which case he remains non-guaranteed.

     If they waived him under those circumstances, then he will count $0 on their cap next season — he will be completely removed. Will that help the Lakers? Not really. They have a $79 million payroll already for 2013-14, and that’s without Dwight. If they re-sign him, they’re right back around $100 million, like they are now. If they don’t re-sign Dwight, then they’re still way over the cap, so have no flexibility. In short, Duhon’s $3.75 million for next season doesn’t affect their spending ability.

     Does it make him easier to trade? Yes. He becomes an effective “ending contract,” so a team could trade for him, and decide to either keep him or walk away from him.

6. Nick Postos

   Why haven’t you took a cap job with any NBA teams yet?

   • Larry Coon

     They can’t afford me.

     Okay — I do get asked this a lot, so I’ll give a serious answer. I’m at a stage in my life where I have a well-established career in another area, and a lot of reasons to stick with it. Am I actively looking for NBA employment? No. Would I make the jump if the right situation came along? I’d give it serious consideration, but all the stars would have to align just right to make me do it. I’ve had various discussions with NBA teams, but the right offer hasn’t been presented to make me want to go to my wife and say, “I think I need to take this.” Maybe it’ll happen, but I’m not actively chasing opportunities.

7. Nick

   What Jim Buss said aside, will the Lakers make any significant roster moves?

   • Larry Coon

     I think they have too. They have too much riding on this season to spend it wallowing in lottery territory (without a lottery pick to show for it).

8. Ryan

   Who would be in the mix for Pau if the lakers decide to trade him?

   • Larry Coon

     First two teams that come to mind are Houston and Minnesota. If it’s Houston it’d likely be part of a three-way deal, because I don’t think there’s a two-way trade that makes a lot of sense for both teams.

9. tyrober

   Is bledsoe a RFA this off season or next?

   • Larry Coon

     2014. He’s signed through the 2013-14 season.

10. Nick

    What is your view on the Kings relocation situation

    • Larry Coon

      I think it’s pretty much fait accompli that the Kings will be playing somewhere else. It looks like Seattle will be in a a great situation if the plans for a new arena come to fruition.

      While I would personally like to see a team in Anaheim — half the distance to my house as Staples Center — it looks like Seattle is the NBA’s preferred destination for the team and that the deal has legs.

11. Andrew

    Hi Larry. Seems as though Memphis wants out of gays contract and like Pekovic. Min covets gasol and lakers could use a talented wing scorer who can shoot from 15-25 and play D. Do you see a LAL: gay, barea, Daryl Arthur ; MIN: gasol, Morris, duhon; mem: Pekovic, Derek Williams, shved, Ebanks…package possibly occurring? Thanks

    • Larry Coon

      Without getting into the minor pieces (which are for the most part fungible) I think a Gasol trade might be the Lakers’ ultimate fate, and a player like Gay would make a lot of sense for them. But while I haven’t talked to the Grizzles directly about their plans, others I trust have said that the Grizzlies will likely have a much quieter trade deadline than many would like to think.

12. Sebastian

    With all these talks recently about lakers should trade D12 or D12 not resigning with them, what jersey will D12 be wearing next season?

    • Larry Coon

      I still have to give the Lakers the best shot at keeping him. After that, Atlanta and maybe Dallas could sign him directly, and would have a reasonable chance to land him if he wants to leave LA. Any other team for which he’s expressed interest in the past would likely require a sign-and-trade, which lowers other teams’ odds considerably (and any team more than $4 million above the luxury tax threshold won’t be able to do a sign-and-trade).

13. Josh

    Who crumbles in west that allows lakers in?

    • Larry Coon

      That’s a good question. I don’t think it’d be so much a matter of other teams “crumbling” as the Lakers outpacing their competition. But they’re running out of time. For the 8th spot, Denver is currently 21-16 and on a 46-47 win pace. The Lakers are 15-20, so if Denver keeps their pace up the Lakers would have to finish 32-15 in order to win 47. And that’s just to have a reasonable chance to squeak into the 8th shot.

      Are the Lakers capable of jumping from a 43% win clip to a 68% clip? Dwight is out (and even when he’s back, he hasn’t exactly been himself all year), Pau is out (and even when he’s back, he hasn’t really fit in with D’Antoni’s system or with Dwight) and they’ve shown all sorts of problems all year. They’ve started to play with more energy and resolve the last couple games, but that alone won’t right the ship.

      The Lakers are in SERIOUS trouble right now, and Jim Buss’ statements about the team being “very solid” are ignoring the danger they’re in.

14. Justin

    As a follow up to your D-League question. Do you think the league would be better off allowing high school kids in the draft, but any such player drafted must play in the D-League for 1-year at the D-League salary?

    • Larry Coon

      There’s a legitimate argument to be made to not even allow high school players to be draft eligible — because once you do you open the door again to high school scouting and high expectations being placed on players who still haven’t played a day in the big league. I think a better solution would be to make these players D-League eligible (at regular D-League salaries) for a year, but still be NBA draft ineligible, which would keep them out of the NBA for a year.

15. Gavin

    What are the chances of Phil Jackson taking an executive job with the Nets or another team?

    • Larry Coon

      Although you can never say never, I really think Phil is pretty much done with coaching, and wouldn’t be interested in an executive job (breathe easy, Billy King & Bobby Marks). Perhaps something could still happen in the future with the Lakers given his ties to Jeanie Buss (they’re engaged), his proximity, and his history with the team, but overall I’d say the odds are less than 50-50 that we’ll see him working in the NBA again.

16. Steve

    Hi Larry, Monta Ellis has an 11M player option, do you think he opts out or does he opt in?

    • Larry Coon

      He has an ETO (similar to an option), and I don’t think he’ll opt for free agency this summer.

17. Tim

    I don’t think the Lakers can be successful with their current setup. My thoughts would be either trade Pau now or fire D’Antoni the day LA is eliminated to get a new coach some run this year. What a disaster. What would you do if you were Mitch?

    • Larry Coon

      First of all, I don’t think the Lakers are going to fire D’Antoni, no matter what happens this season. They’re already paying Mike Brown $4.5 million to not coach for them, and they’re not going to add another ex-coach to the payroll. They’re going to give him this season to work it out. I don’t think there’s any other coach who’d have a better chance of righting the ship with so little time remaining, and that includes Phil Jackson.

      I think there’s a reasonable chance Pau gets traded, however. He’s not fitting in, D’Antoni doesn’t really seem to be making any progress toward figuring out how to use him, and he’s their best realistic trade chip right now.