Now that all 30 regular-season rosters have been set, 10 teams project to be taxpayers, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, Jazz, Sixers, Celtics, Trail Blazers and Raptors are currently over the luxury tax threshold.
Some of those teams are in better shape than others. While the Warriors ($159.9M) and Nets ($110.4M) project to have nine-figure tax bills, the Raptors are barely into tax territory and should be able to sneak below the line, perhaps by waiving one of their two players who has a partially guaranteed deal.
Besides Golden State and Brooklyn, the Clippers, Lakers, Bucks and Jazz all have projected tax bills exceeding $33M, according to Marks. The Sixers, Celtics, Blazers and Raptors would owe less than $8M each based on the current numbers.
Of course, these numbers can and will change over the course of the season as teams make roster moves, since tax bills are determined by the team’s year-end salary. For now though, the 20 non-taxpayers project to receive year-end payments of $12.7M, Marks notes.
Here are a few more cap- and contract-related notes from around the NBA:
- Grayson Allen‘s two-year extension with the Bucks features a base value of $17M ($8.5M per year) in guaranteed money and can be worth up to $19.6M via bonuses, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The exact value of the incentives is $1.275M annually, Hoops Rumors has learned. Currently, those are a mix of likely and unlikely bonuses, but since the deal doesn’t begin until 2022-23, those likely/unlikely designations will ultimately be based on what happens this coming season.
- Wendell Carter Jr.‘s four-year extension with the Magic has a descending structure, Scotto tweets. It starts at $14.15M in year one and dips to $10.85M by year four.
- In addition to having a team option on its fourth year, Landry Shamet‘s extension with the Suns has a non-guaranteed salary in year three, Hoops Rumors has learned. The last two years both have June 29 trigger dates, in 2024 and 2025. Only $19.75M of Shamet’s $42.5M deal is fully guaranteed for now.
- Daniel Gafford‘s three-year extension with the Wizards doesn’t include any options or incentives, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.
More must-reads: