What the NBA’s December start date and new salary cap mean for the Charlotte Hornets
The NBA and players union agreed late Monday on changes to the collective bargaining agreement and a schedule for the season.
The regular season will begin Dec. 22 and be 72 games (rather than the traditional 82). That’s at least a month earlier than NBA commissioner Adam Silver projected during the Finals.
Here’s what all this means for the Charlotte Hornets:
NBA season will start in December
A definite plus for the Hornets and the seven other teams that were not included in the season restart to begin in December. The Hornets’ only team activity since March has been a two-week mini-camp last month.
The sooner the Hornets can start practicing — training camps are likely to start Dec. 1 — the better.
NBA salary cap and luxury tax
With league-wide revenue plummeting due to the pandemic, the NBA and players agreed to essentially use last season’s salary cap and tax thresholds for this season. The salary cap will be $109.14 million per team and the luxury-tax threshold will be $132.62 million.
That’s a mixed blessing for the Hornets, one of just a handful of teams with significant cap space this offseason.
Assume Nic Batum exercises his $27 million player option (a no-brainer). Add nearly $7 million for the first-year salary of the No. 3 draft pick. That makes the Hornets’ payroll obligations for next season about $88 million.
They would enter the Nov. 20 free-agency period with roughly $20 million in cap space. This is the first time in several years the Hornets have entered free-agency with significant cap space.
This season’s cap and tax numbers were negotiated, deviating from the prior formula reflecting the previous season’s league-wide revenue.
A lower tax threshold would favor the Hornets; general manager Mitch Kupchak has said he’s open to taking on a contract from another team in tax jeopardy, in return for an asset like a draft pick.
The NBA’s announcement included a system to reduce teams’ tax bills if 2020-21 revenue comes in below last season’s. From the league announcement, “Teams’ Tax payments will be reduced in proportion to any BRI (basketball-related income) decreases.”
That means some big-spending teams could be less concerned with a tax ramification, which could potentially reduce the value of the Hornets’ ability to absorb a contract. It could also reduce the redistribution of funds to teams under the tax, which would include the Hornets.
NBA free agency and the Hornets
The Hornets are one of the few teams with significant cap space. However, Kupchak has said repeatedly he does not plan to be a big player in the 2020 free-agent market.
“Even though we’ll have cap room, I don’t feel free-agency is the answer for us at this time,” Kupchak told The Observer in August. “So that talent is going to have to come from the draft or a trade.”
NBA teams can start negotiating with free agents Nov. 20 and start signing players Nov. 22.
The Hornets’ greatest areas of need are the center and wing positions. The Hornets were last in the NBA last season in defensive-rebounding percentage, a major concern for coach James Borrego. Also, Borrego wants more 3-point shooters to stretch defenses.
If the Hornets don’t draft a center, it seems likely Kupchak will sign one in free-agency. There are also opportunities to improve the shooting. For instance, Brooklyn Nets wing Joe Harris — a career 43% 3-point shooter — would be a big boost.
The Hornets have three pending free agents: Centers Bismack Biyombo and Willy Hernangomez and shooting guard Dwayne Bacon. Biyombo and Hernangomez are unrestricted. The Hornets can restrict Bacon’s free-agency with a $2 million qualifying offer, but Bacon spent much of last season with the Greensboro Swarm and doesn’t appear in Charlotte’s plans.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 10:25 AM with the headline "What the NBA’s December start date and new salary cap mean for the Charlotte Hornets."
