When will free agency, season start? Salary cap? Important questions answered for Heat, NBA
The NBA calendar for the 2020-21 season is taking shape.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced late Monday night that they reached an agreement in principle on the start of the 2020-21 season, including adjustments to certain provisions of the current collective bargaining agreement impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The league’s Board of Governors approved the deal on Tuesday night.
As expected and tentatively approved by the NBPA last week, the 2020-21 season will begin on Dec. 22 and each team will play a shortened 72-game schedule. The full regular-season and broadcast schedules will be released at a future date.
This means the offseason will last just 71 days, which is the fewest days between the end of a season and the start of the next season in NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL history, according to Elias Sports.
As one of the final two teams playing this past season, the Miami Heat will experience that very short offseason firsthand. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Oct. 11 to win the championship in the league’s Disney quarantine bubble.
With training camps opening on Dec. 1, there’s a lot to be accomplished in the coming weeks.
The draft is Nov. 18. The Heat holds the 20th pick in the first round, but it does not own a second-round pick.
Monday’s announcement also set the dates for free agency, with free-agent negotiations beginning just a few days after the draft on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. and signings starting on Nov. 22 at 12:01 p.m.
The salary cap numbers for the 2020-21 season were also announced Monday, as they’ll remain flat with this past season’s numbers ($109.140 million salary cap, $132.627 million luxury tax line) also used this upcoming season.
In subsequent seasons of the CBA, the salary cap and luxury tax threshold will increase by a minimum of three percent and a maximum of 10 percent over the prior season. That means the salary cap for the 2021-22 season could be as low as $112.4 million and as high as $120 million, which is important for the Heat as it continues to work to preserve max-level cap space for what could be a loaded 2021 free-agent class that may be headlined by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Heat has six impending unrestricted free agents this offseason: Jae Crowder, Goran Dragic, Udonis Haslem, Solomon Hill, Derrick Jones Jr. and Meyers Leonard.
In addition, center Kelly Olynyk will likely have until the day before the start of free agency — options dates have not been set yet — to decide on his $12.2 million player option for the 2020-21 season. The expectation is that Olynyk will opt-in to the final season of his contract with the Heat for next season.
Also, Miami can extend All-Star center Bam Adebayo’s rookie-scale contract until the day before the start of the regular season, as he will earn $5.1 million next season in the final year of his rookie deal whether he signs an extension this offseason or not. The extension would begin in the 2021-22 season.
The Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown for next season looks like this: Jimmy Butler ($34.4 million), Andre Iguodala ($15 million), Olynyk ($12.2 million player option), Adebayo ($5.1 million), Tyler Herro ($3.8 million), Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million), Kendrick Nunn ($1.7 million), KZ Okpala ($1.5 million), Chris Silva ($1.5 million), a projected $2.4 million cap hit for the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft, a $5.2 million waive-and-stretch cap hit for Ryan Anderson that’s still on the books, and a $350,000 waive-and-stretch cap hit for AJ Hammons.
Assuming Olynyk opts-in to the final season of his contract and the Heat keeps the player it drafts this year, Miami will have about $85 million committed to 10 players for next season with the 2020-21 cap set at $109.140 million. That means the Heat could create up to $22 million in cap space, including cap holds, if it renounces the rights to its six impending free agents.
The other, more likely alternative, would be the Heat operating as an over-the-cap team in order to preserve the Bird rights of its free agents and be able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign Dragic and Crowder. Miami could then augment the roster by signing a player with its $9.3 million mid-level exception or acquiring a player into a $7.5 million trade exception.
Other items that were announced Monday:
▪ Teams’ luxury tax payments will be reduced in proportion to any basketball-related income (BRI) decreases.
▪ A new system will be used to ensure the parties’ agreed-upon split of BRI. In the event player compensation were to exceed the players’ designated share in any season, necessary salary reductions beyond the standard 10 percent escrow would be spread across that season and potentially the following two seasons, subject to a maximum salary reduction in any season of 20 percent.
Why did the league and players agree to begin the 2020-21 season in December after last season came to an end just in October?
The NBA believes that beginning in December instead of mid-January is worth about $500 million in revenue, according to the Associated Press.
Also, the NBA would like to get back to a traditional league calendar as soon as possible — something closer to an October start and June finish. The thinking is a 72-game season that begins in December and is expected to come to an end before the Summer Olympics in July could allow for an October start to the 2021-22 season.
While next season won’t be played in a quarantine bubble, it will still be played in the middle of a pandemic and there are important questions that remain unanswered.
What will the health and safety protocols be? Will there be fans in arenas for games? Those discussions and others continue, with the start of training camps just three weeks away.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 1:08 AM.
