More bargain names for Thunder in salary crunch
Enes Kanter was bummed out, but at least he could joke about his potential free agency. Unlike several players this summer of dry salary cap space, Kanter has money coming to him.
So, when Yahoo! Sports' Shams Charania reported that Kanter was picking up the option on his $18.6 million salary for this upcoming season, the former Thunder center playfully tweeted that he hadn’t made his decision yet. That wasn’t a tough decision to make in this market.
Every summer there are a handful of exorbitant NBA contracts signed, but this isn’t the summer of 2016 when teams were flush with salary cap space. That means plenty of unrestricted free agents are going to be left wanting more.
On Tuesday, The Oklahoman detailed some players who are opting out of the final year of their contracts. Today highlights the rest: The players with no option — the unrestricted free agents at the mercy of the league’s salary cap crunch.
The 2019 free agency period will provide more salary cap money and options for free agents, but many lower-tier players are going to have to settle for less whether it’s now or next summer.
Even next year, teams are going to be reserving that carefully managed cap space for stars such as Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Al Horford or possibly Karl-Anthony Towns.
“With so many teams capped out already for next season and approaching the luxury tax threshold, the market for free agents underneath the LeBron/ Paul George level will be tight,” wrote NBA.com’s David Aldridge on Twitter Friday.
It’s a free agent climate so tight, former Thunder center Joffrey Lauvergne had a player option for $1.6 million next season with the Spurs, but declined it before Friday’s deadline to play in Turkey for Fenerbahce. If Lauvergne figures he
can get more playing time and money overseas, what does it say about the free agency climate for non-superstars?
Those $8.6 million per year projections for free agent Jerami Grant? Those might be steep, especially considering only eight teams entered July 30 under the projected $101 million salary cap.
A majority of the NBA will enter the first day of free agency over the cap, with only mid-level salaries between $5.3 million (taxpayer) and $8.6 million (non-taxpayers) to offer annually outside of minimum salary contracts. The rest of the teams will hold on to cap space to either chase top-tier unrestricted free agents (LeBron James, Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins) or won’t push, instead rolling over cap space to next summer or to absorb expiring contracts via trades in order to get future first-round picks or clear even more cap room.
Where does that leave players like Brook Lopez or J.J. Redick — players coming off $20 millionplus salaries who might have to settle for seven figures? Even with little money out there, teams will shell out premium prices for shooters, but the 7-foot Lopez, who the Thunder showed interest in in previous seasons, could be signed for less than a quarter of his salary from last season.
Shooters like Redick and Wayne Ellington (39.2 percent from 3-point range last season) will certainly be able to get higher mid-level offers than the Thunder can muster. Trevor Ariza might get dangled something close to his $7.4 million salary from last season, probably more. The Thunder should inquire whether George leaves or not, and Luc Mbah a Moute would be a good, less expensive, alternative, particularly with the uncertain future of Andre Roberson.
The teams chasing or looking to re-sign stars may be most ripe for the picking. In its pursuit for a max-salary free agent this season or next, Philadelphia will happily part with Gerald Henderson, Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova (remember him, Thunder fans?) as unrestricted free agents. A Cousins contract with New Orleans makes the taxes on re-signing Ian Clark costly. Denver extending star center Nikola Jokic makes it tougher to pay free agent Will Barton.
Thus, the same scenario the Thunder faces — paying George, then the tax ramifications resulting in the loss of Grant — is present in other teams. It’s a matter of who’s willing to accept what figures during the cap crunch. OKC can always bring back Grant via Bird Rights, but the bill keeps getting bigger, even if a bargain free agent is brought in.