Here are the NBA five teams that have the best collections of assets in terms of cap space, picks, tradable players, and expiring contracts.
In the NBA, the teams with the best superstar players usually win. However, those superstars are scarce resources in and not every team is lucky enough to have one. Where teams devoid of transcendent talent can close the gap on the court is by having an elite front office.
For teams that don’t have a superstar, it’s important to run a tight ship. Teams that make smart moves with the salary cap and future NBA drafts tend to have brighter futures as organizations, giving themselves a leg up in the race for the next big star.
What we’re going to do here is rank the five best teams in the NBA in terms of asset collections. The four criteria are cap space, future draft picks (including those from other teams coming in), tradable players, and expiring contracts. Here are the five teams that have given themselves the best chance for a great future with asset allocation.
5. Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks just edge out the Utah Jazz for the No. 5 spot in the best collection of assets entering the 2016-17 NBA season. Both teams have more future picks coming in than out. Utah actually has more cap room ($11,781,904). Where Atlanta beats up Utah is in the tradable players and expiring contracts components of this exercise.
Atlanta is slightly over the 2016-17 NBA salary cap at -$4,660,242, according to Spotrac.com. The Hawks have 17 players under contract, three players invited to training camp, and only 15 players on guaranteed contracts.
Atlanta will likely get under the cap before the Hawks’ first regular season game. They also have plenty of luxury tax space ($14,483,758) should owner Tony Ressler want to beef up his playoff-caliber team at some point.
Looking at the Hawks’ multi-year cap situation, they only have four, maybe five un-tradable contracts. Dwight Howard and Kent Bazemore just signed new deals in free agency. They will be on Atlanta’s books at least until 2019. Bazemore has a player option in 2019. Howard hits unrestricted free agency that same summer.
Malcolm Delaney hits restricted free agency in 2018, but will only make $2.5 million guaranteed the next two seasons. With the new NBA television money coming in, that $5 million guaranteed for the Hawks is nothing, but would be dead money for the Hawks if he doesn’t make the team either of the next two seasons.
Atlanta’s two first-round rookies from the 2016 NBA Draft aren’t exactly tradable either. Taurean Prince and DeAndre’ Bembry have guaranteed contracts the next two years, but have team options in 2019 and 2020 before hitting restricted free agency in 2021. Neither will make more than $3.5 million in any season through 2020-21.
The Hawks have nine players hitting unrestricted free agency this summer including Tiago Splitter, Kyle Korver, Thabo Sefolosha, and Kris Humphries. Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway, Jr. hit restricted free agency this summer. Atlanta will likely keep Schroder. Hardaway, Jr., who knows?
Atlanta has three future second-round picks coming in from various teams and a first-round pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves that is lottery protected (No. 1-14) coming in the one of the next three drafts. The only pick Atlanta has to give away in the foreseeable future is a 2017 second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs as part of the Splitter trade of summer 2015.
What puts Atlanta over the top as a top-five team in terms of assets collecting is that it has maybe the best potential trade chip of any team this season: three-time All-Star power forward Paul Millsap.
Millsap signed a favorable three-year deal with the Hawks in summer 2015, with a player option for 2017-18. He can opt out, and probably will, to get a bigger deal with Atlanta or one of the other 29 NBA teams. Atlanta can dangle a top-20 player in the NBA on an expiring deal because of the player option to a contending team for more assets should the Hawks stumble in 2016-17.
The Hawks aren’t a championship caliber team in 2016-17, but have put themselves in a position to succeed long term thanks to great work by head coach Mike Budenholzer and general manager Wes Wilcox. What other team could afford to sign an enigmatic player like Howard to a massive multi-year deal and still have wiggle room for future growth opportunities?
4. Orlando Magic
Have the Orlando Magic gotten out of their four-year swoon post Dwight-mare? The Magic have been one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference since Howard forced a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012. However, they have a great new head coach in Frank Vogel, an exciting collection of young players, and a better than expected future salary cap outlook.
Orlando has 13 players on guaranteed contracts with six training camp invitees. The Magic are only over the cap $10,681,360. There are teams with better cap situations, but the Magic’s is at least manageable.
The Magic have three future picks coming their way, including a 2019 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers. Orlando doesn’t have to send any future picks away to another NBA franchise.
Though cap situation and being +3 in terms of future picks doesn’t really move the needle, what does for the Magic is their amount of intriguing players on expiring contracts. Orlando only has three unmovable contracts: Bismack Biyombo, Evan Fournier, and D.J. Augustin.
Nikola Vucevic is guaranteed for the next three seasons before hitting unrestricted free agency in summer 2019. However, Orlando has a log jam of high-end, young front court players. Vucevic is a near All-Star center and could be a great piece for a contending team if he is traded by general manager Rob Hennigan.
Orlando has four players hitting unrestricted free agency this summer including Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka, and Jodie Meeks. Six players hit restricted free agency, none of whom are noteworthy.
The Magic do have some big decisions to make in terms of team options. Aaron Gordon, Mario Hezonja, and Elfrid Payton all are awaiting if the Magic pick up their team options for 2017-18. These are all first-round picks by Orlando in recent years.
They traded away former No. 2 overall pick Victor Oladipo to the Oklahoma City this summer. It wouldn’t be surprising to at least one of them on the way out if they don’t grow under Vogel’s leadership in 2016-17.
Trading for Ibaka and signing Biyombo would bold moves by Hennigan. He did it because he has faith in Vogel, but he has given the Magic more cap flexibility than you think. The Magic are in position to either continue the rebuild or push for contention in the next few years, whatever the organization decides is the best course of action for this team.
3. Boston Celtics
How are the Boston Celtics not No.1? Doesn’t Boston have like every Brooklyn Nets first-round pick for the next decade? While Boston does have an absurd number of draft picks coming their way in the next few years (nine incoming, three outgoing), the Celtics don’t have the best collection of tradable assets on their roster of players on expiring contracts.
In terms of the 2016-17 NBA salary cap, the Celtics come in just a tad over the cap by $172,574. This is with 19 players on their roster and 16 with guaranteed deals this season. Boston general manager should effortlessly be able to get under the cap before the start of the season.
The Celtics have done a remarkable job of collecting future draft picks. Of their nine picks coming from other teams, four are future first-round picks: a 2017 right to a pick swap with Brooklyn, a 2018 first-round pick from Brooklyn, a 2019 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Clippers, and a 2019 first-round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies.
Boston completely fleecing Brooklyn in the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce/Jason Terry trade will go down in NBA history as one of the most lopsided deals of all-time. These future picks make the Celtics a top-five of asset allocation team for the next few seasons.
Now for the parts of the equation that actually hurt the Celtics in overall asset collection: tradable players and expiring contracts. Al Horford, Avery Bradley, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and Jaylen Brown’s deals are not easily tradable. This is the core of their team, but they are all under guaranteed contracts through the 2017-18 NBA season.
Boston doesn’t have an intriguing asset this season on an expiring deal: Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko, Kelly Olynyk, and Gerald Green don’t move the needle. The Celtics do have four young players they have to figure out if they are getting team options: Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, James Young, and R.J. Hunter. It’s unlikely general manager Danny Ainge keeps all four.
In short, Boston is in a great position to succeed long-term because of the decisions made by their front office. However, it will be difficult for the Celtics to make a trade to improve without having to give up one of their corps players in a deal. Boston can throw as many future picks in to sweeten a deal. That doesn’t mean they have the available trade chips this year to get another team to bite on one of Ainge’s offers.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
The gap between No. 3 and No. 2 in the best collection of assets entering the 2016-17 NBA season is significant. Boston has great draft picks, but the Philadelphia 76ers have more intriguing potential trade chips over the Celtics.
It’s been a painstakingly rough go of it the last three years for Philadelphia hoops, but the future is blinding bright for the 76ers. The 76ers have 20 players on their roster with only 12 contracts fully guaranteed. Philadelphia is under the salary cap by $19,290,799. If the 76ers want to add a few players to accentuate their young core, general manager Bryan Colangelo can do that.
Looking at their future salary cap situations, the 76ers only have two players on its 2016-17 roster that are not tradable: point guard Jerryd Bayless and No. 1 overall draft pick Ben Simmons. Bayless is the only player on the 76ers’ books with a guaranteed contract through 2018-19. Simmons is untradable because of who he is as a prospect.
While the 76ers don’t have many impending free agents, Philadelphia has many team options coming in the next two off-seasons. The most notable free agent this summer is power forward Nerlens Noel, who is entering his restricted free agency. Noel is one of many front court trade assets Colangelo can ship for a solid return this season.
Five important players on this team have player options coming up in 2017-18: Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, Robert Covington, and Jerami Grant. All five could be traded this season if Colangelo doesn’t seem them as long-term fits on Brett Brown’s future 76ers rosters.
Not to be outdone by Atlantic Division rival Boston, Philadelphia has 11 incoming future picks and only one outgoing. These are mostly second-picks coming the 76ers’ way, but three are future first-round selections: 2017 from the Los Angeles Lakers, 2017 from the Sacramento Kings, and 2019 from Sacramento.
Though Philadelphia is not a playoff-caliber this season by any means, the 76ers have positioned themselves to make quantum leaps on the hardwood in the next few years. If Simmons does become the next transcendent superstar point forward, this team might be championship-caliber by the end of the decade.
1. Denver Nuggets
Hoops heads need to give a round of applause to the outstanding job Tim Connelly is doing as the Denver Nuggets general manager. He had a tough job of replacing one of the best in the business when Masai Ujiri left the Nuggets for the Toronto Raptors gig in 2013. It’s as if the Nuggets haven’t skipped a beat with Connelly on the job.
Denver comes in with 19 players on its roster and the Nuggets are still under the cap by $15,357,278. 14 of the 19 contracts are fully guaranteed. Only three players (Danilo Gallinari, Kenneth Faried, and Wilson Chandler) are making over $10 million in 2016-17. Denver has Bird Rights with all three major contributors.
While the Nuggets don’t have any unrestricted free agents next summer, three players on non-guaranteed deals hit restricted free agency. They only have one player with a player option in Gallinari. He could opt out and could stand to make more money on the open market. Denver has team options on Emmanuel Mudiay, Jusuf Nurkic, and Gary Harris.
Faried and Chandler might be the two hardest contracts for Denver to move, but there isn’t a player Connelly absolutely can’t trade. Denver doesn’t have a star player, but would offer prospective trade partners a bountiful crop of high-end NBA players.
Denver crushed it in the 2016 NBA Draft with three first-round picks. The Nuggets have four future picks coming in and two on the way out, highlighted by Memphis’ 2017 first-round pick.
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Denver has a ton of tradable players, only two suspect contracts, ample cap space, and are in the positive with draft pick differential. The Nuggets should be competitive this year. Maybe not quite playoff-caliber, but Connelly has the resources to help Denver make a playoff push if need be. Denver’s bookkeeping is the best in basketball in 2016-17.