Understanding the LA Clippers Cap Situation Before Free Agency

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Apr 20, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the Los Angeles Clippers logo at midcourt during game two of the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Staples center. The Clippers defeated the Trail Blazers 102-81 to take a 2-0 lead. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Salary Cap Rules

These rules were simplified by reading CBAFAQ.com, which is worth checking out if you really want to get down and dirty with the salary cap. There is a lot more than the basics listed here.

Guaranteed Money

This is the easiest concept to understand. Guaranteed money is what we are already committed to paying out. The Clips have $57,164,653 in guaranteed money for 2017-18.

Note: This does not include Paul Pierce’s contract, due to his retirement.

Sounds good, especially after seeing that leaves $50M+ to reach the salary cap, right? Sadly, it’s not that simple.

You can see on the chart on the last slide that both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have early termination options. They are expected to opt out, which will drop the teams total guaranteed money. However, just because they both terminate their contracts, it doesn’t mean that $45,642,910 becomes available to spend. It’s actually a lot worse. This is where the intricacies of the CBA come into play.

Bird Rights

Bird Rights essentially allow a team to re-sign a player over the cap, if the player has played 3 consecutive years for them. (Or, if they inherited the rights through a trade) You can see in the chart on the last slide that the team only has bird rights currently to Blake, CP3, DJ and J.J. So, running it back with the same core is very much an option. It would be another summer of filling out the roster by using exceptions and veteran minimum contracts.

Early Bird

This really only works for one Clippers’ player: Luc Mbah a Moute. To qualify for this exception, the player must play for two seasons with the same team. The team can sign them at a lower amount through this than regular Bird Rights and the contract can be from two to four years in length. Luc will be able to earn up to 175% times what he did this season through Early Bird.

Mid-Level Exception

The LA Clippers only really have one exception that they can use: the taxpayer mid-level exception. This is only available for teams who are over the luxury tax threshold. It allows them to sign one player, for up to three years, above the cap. However, there is a maximum amount that they can give the player. For 2017-18, that amount is about $3.5M.

Veteran Minimum

This is another easy concept one. If a player doesn’t intend to re-sign with his team and enters free agency, he can be signed for any amount b

y any team. A veteran’s minimum allows any team over the cap to sign a player at the lowest allowed salary for up to two years. This is where ring chasers usually are picked up. Mo Speights was signed by the Clippers on a minimum contract last summer, so it is possible to get some production despite the low money amount.

Sign and trade

Teams can sign a player and immediately trade them, as long as they are receiving something of equal value. However, the team receiving the player cannot be above $4 million over the tax level at the conclusion of the trade. The team also cannot use the MLE and then do a sign and trade. This route doesn’t seem likely for the Clips.

Renouncing

Teams can “renounce” a player, which essentially says that they don’t plan to make an effort to re-sign them. Renouncing a player allows their cap hold to come off the books, but you can not use your Bird Rights, Early Bird, MLE, etc. on them. The team is essentially cutting all ties with the player.

Cap Holds

So, what’s a cap hold? Cap holds are “placeholders” for players the team is expected to sign in the future. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul actually have enormous projected cap holds of $30.2M and $34.3M respectively. This is not to mention the cap holds that both J.J. Redick and Luc Mbah a Moute have. Marreese Speights, Brandon Bass, Alan Anderson and Raymond Felton also have holds, but they are negligible. The holds are removed once a player signs, so if CP3 and Blake can’t decide, we are stuck waiting on their decision.

Yes, a player can sign for less, but with the Clippers being able to offer more money than others to both Chris and Blake, it wouldn’t make sense for either player to do so. If they plan on taking less money, then they may as well look at other teams. So, where does this leave us?

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