NBA clears remaining salary of Mozgov
The NBA has removed Timofey Mozgov’s $16.7 million salary from the Orlando Magic’s books after approving the career-ending injury/illness waiver request the team filed last month.
Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman confirmed the league’s ruling, but he declined to comment further. The league’s decision will remove roughly $5.6 million from Orlando’s cap this season, as well as $5.6 million from each of the next two seasons.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic first reported the NBA had approved Orlando’s application on Wednesday.
The Magic waived Mozgov in July and stretched his $16.7 million salary, meaning the team would take a cap hit of nearly $5.6 million over three consecutive seasons starting with 2019-20. Mozgov, who helped the Cavaliers win the NBA title in 2016, was entering the final year of a four-year contract he originally signed as a free agent with the Lakers before the 2016-17 season.
Orlando acquired Mozgov from Charlotte, which got Bismack Biyombo in return, prior to the 2018-19 season as part of a threeteam trade that also included Chicago. Mozgov, however, did not appear in a game for the Magic last season as he dealt with a knee injury. He had an arthroscopic procedure on the knee in January.
Not knowing if or when Mozgov was going to be able to play, Orlando decided to reduce the cap hit of his $16.7 million salary by waiving Mozgov in July and stretching his contract. Part of the money they freed up was used to sign free-agent forward Al-Farouq Aminu.
About a month later, Mozgov, 33, signed a oneyear contract with Russian club Khimki Moscow but he continued to be hampered by the knee injury, according to reports. As of Wednesday, he still had not appeared in any of Khimki’s 10 EuroLeague games.
The injury prompted the Magic to consider using the league’s career-ending injury/illness provisions and they officially filed their application in October. Marc Stein of The New York Times was among the first to report that Orlando was seeking the waiver.
If a player is diagnosed with what is believed to be a career-ending injury or illness, his team can apply for salary cap relief one year after he last appeared in a game, according to NBA rules and the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Heat recently used the provision with Chris Bosh (blood clots).
If Mozgov were to return and play for Khimki, his salary would be put back on the Magic’s cap sheet, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo! Sports.
Mozgov, who averaged 6.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest in 454 career NBA games, still will receive his remaining salary, according to reports.
Orlando, meanwhile, now sits roughly $7.8 million under the luxury tax, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. He also reports the Magic now have a $10.7 million buffer on the hard cap.
Marks also tweeted that Mozgov joins Bosh, Omer
Asik, Mirza Teletovic, Nikola Pekovic and Aaron Gray as players whose salary has been removed in the past three years because of a long-term injury waiver.
The Magic could utilize the money on several fronts: to help facilitate a trade or sign a free agent this season, or use it toward future signings. It’s important to keep in mind that the $5.6 million comes off the Magic’s books each of the next two seasons. Third-year players Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz will be eligible for rookie-scale extensions next season.
Mozgov, meanwhile, told Russian news agency TASS in August that he felt doctors in the U.S. had misdiagnosed his injury.
“There is some progress in my knee injury recovery, although not as speedy as it should be since it is an oldtime trauma,” Mozgov said. “I don’t want to make wrongful accusations in regard to American doctors, but their treatment of my injury was not quite correct.
“It seems to me at the moment that they have been treating me based on a wrong diagnosis. Nothing terrible has happened, but the injury has aggravated as the time went by.”