Charlotte Hornets: Following the Money
The Charlotte Hornets will have a salary cap of $92 million if they avoid the luxury tax this season. How might they spend it?
The Charlotte Hornets have mostly worked under the salary cap to get their jobs done in the past. Their work will be rewarded this off season when new media deals for the NBA raise the cap to new levels.
To give you an idea, the Hornets used about $67 million of the $70 million cap. The luxury tax threshold was at $84 million. Next year’s cap will be around $92 million according to reports from Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.com.
So let’s play the books to see what a potential Hornets team might look like and cost next year.
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Let’s start with the current guys on contract:
Kemba Walker: $12 million
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: $13 million
Spencer Hawes: $6.3 million
Cody Zeller: $5.3 million
Jeremy Lamb: $6.5 million
Frank Kaminsky: $2.7 million
Aaron Harrison: $875,000
Total: 46.7 million (rounded)
So the Hornets have committed about 47 million dollars into next year’s cap number. The only outlier is Aaron Harrison who is under a non-guaranteed deal and could be cut to save the almost $900,000 that he would make.
The Hornets salary log looks different because Lamb and particularly Kidd-Gilchrist enter extensions this upcoming season that takes more room.
The Hornets will also have the 22nd pick in the NBA Draft which will cost about $1.2 million next year regardless who it is. That is $47.9 million assuming the Hornets deal their second round pick or something. So now we have to get from $47.9 million to $92 million. That is about 44 million in cap.
Qualifying offers
- Hornets extend qualifying offer ($1.2 million) to Troy Daniels
This is a bargain for the things Daniels helped with last season. Now that offer only happens if nobody offers him a better deal (that the Hornets would have a right to match but would be unlikely to). We will assume that Daniels returns for the qualifying tender.
Free agents
The Hornets have identified Nicolas Batum has their top priority with Batum likely making a max deal or close to it. So what does that mean?
According to the NBA the maximum money a player can make is based on years of experience and the total cap number. Batum has eight years of experience in the league and therefore his max cap number is 30% of the cap or the smaller number of $25 million for the first year.
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Probably Batum’s real value lays at $20 million a year in the new cap, but this is NBA free agency and the bidding will change things. The Hornets have the advantage of offering a fifth year to the deal, but let’s assume Batum ends up with his max.
- Hornets re-sign Nicolas Batum – $25 million
This is where the new cap room does not necessarily help the Hornets. They now have $19 million to split between six players. That could mean that this will come down to how dedicated the Hornets are to a win now strategy. If they go over the cap there is $5.6 million midlevel exception.
This is where getting Batum down at $20 million would be huge, because that opens up five million more dollars.
The next step is getting Jeremy Lin and Marvin Williams back. They turned out to be key pieces for the model last year. Both want to come back, but at the right price.
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Lin will probably want to make more than Lamb will so let’s plug his value at $7 million.
- Hornets re-sign Jeremy Lin – $7 million
Marvin is a little tougher to sort through. He’s making near eight million this year and likely believes he is worth a little more than that. Kemba sits at $12 million so that is the logical ceiling for any of these deals. I would say a slight raise to $8.5 million would do it, but anything more (Lin too for that matter) and the Hornets have to let him walk.
- Hornets re-sign Marvin Williams – $8.5 million
That end result is that the Hornets would have 3 million dollars to commit to the remaining 3 roster spots. That means re-signing Al would be out of the question. It also means that the Hornets probably drafted a big man since they don’t really have money to throw at one at this point.
The identities of the three men? A second round pick costing about $500,000 and two vets making about a $1 million each. Or the Hornets could go over the cap and try to bring back Courtney Lee at the midlevel exception, which is about what he made this year.
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The point of this exercise is that the Hornets will not have a lot of maneuverability under the new cap if they commit the max to Batum. They need Batum to function optimally, but they can’t bring back all the pieces that they had this year (Jefferson) if he goes max. That means that the Hornets will not be bringing everyone back.
The Hornets could cut Harrison and perhaps trade Hawes to get a little more leverage, but not enough to make a huge difference.
Next: What If - Shopping for Centers?
It also makes the Draft that much more important since the only way the Hornets can upgrade their interior defense is through that route. Which means the first centers get our attention next.